Travel back through time into the Grice House, which has been furnished entirely by donated items from numerous families to depict life in this part of Huron County, Michigan in the nineteenth and twentieth century. The Grice House was built by James G. Grice, who immigrated to the United States from Lancashire, England in 1850, and later his son, Joseph Grice. James and Jane Grice came to the vil
lage of Sand Beach in about 1874 and constructed the wooden frame portion of the house. James owned a shingle mill in the town, and the Grice home was located on his farm property. The Great Fire of 1881 destroyed the mill; however, due to a lake breeze, the house was spared. The family moved to the nearby community of Verona, but James and Jane's son Joseph remained, acquiring the farm property and constructing the stone portion of the house. Joseph served as foreman of the construction of the break wall at Sand Beach. The home remained in the ownership of the Grice family until 1962. In the 1960s, with the last Grice descendent deceased, the city of Harbor Beach purchased the property to settle the estates of James and Jane Grice, and leased to the Grice House Heritage Association as a museum and cultural center. The museum was listed on the National Register on November 12, 1982. The national registry of Historic Places id is 82000534. It was listed on the State Registry November 3, 1976. The site id number is P23300. The museum complex now includes the house itself, the old Adam's schoolhouse moved from the outskirts in the county, and a barn that houses larger displays, moved from across M-25 during the fall of 2015. Special exhibit areas include a Marine Room, Sewing Room, Industrial Room, Military room, Agricultural machinery and Implements, and the reconstructed 1800s-era schoolhouse. The museum houses almost 2000 artifacts throughout its three museum buildings. A must-see item in the museum is the original fourth order Fresnel lens from the Harbor Beach Lighthouse. Constructed in Paris, France in 1884, the lens was in service from 1885 until it was removed in 1986.
