Windsnest Park — Attraction in Port Sheldon Township

(Previously rated one star but my beef is clearly with the parking and my sentiment stands, but I know how important ratings are and this beach is genuinely the best but we MUST get a better parking situation figured out!!! )

This is the BEST park/beach with little to no access. Just a couple of summers ago, you were able to park on the street with no issue and each year since 2023 more and more no parking signs seem to inch up on the minimal parking that is available. For a beach that is clean, beautiful, family friendly and extremely accessible, you will find that patrol officers creep around waiting to ticket you because you were just outside of the parking zone. Worse yet, you have paid for an annual Ottawa County parking pass and still get a citation despite your best effort to park close and not near any residential properties.

Prime example of this is getting a citation written for $0.00 and 10 days to appear in court to fight it and no follow up consequence outlined. Then a month later when what was once considered to the layperson a “warning” citation, is now a $90 fine.

Skip this beach unless you get there at 7 am to ensure your prized parking lot or fence line spot (if those will even be available by next season).

Oh and if you have made it this far, I am not a keyboard warrior, simply someone who likes to enjoy her local parks and not given the run around as it comes to citations that are less than straightforward. Before Windsnest Park comments on this review as well, save it. The “we will work on parking” or “visit one of our other Ottawa County parks” canned PR responses are more tired than we are as patrons of your lovely parks. This is about creating accessible spaces and this park becomes less and less accessible each year.

Again, this is a beautiful beach, ruined by bureaucracy. It’s a shame that middle ground could not be found along the Consumers plant side of the road at the very least....

Windsnest park has an interesting history. Decades ago, it was a channel of water flowing back to the power plant (inlet path) and it still is today. However, the pipes are buried under the ground and the strainer / filter assembly is way off shore (farther and deeper than you will swim). When it became a park, it was for the local residents only and visitors were cautioned about fines and enforcement if they did not live nearby. That changed with the park overhaul a few years back and an updated and expanded playground was added. I will miss the old, tall, fast steel slide, but the addition of more kid friendly playground equipment welcomes the next generation of beachgoers. If you walk the beach to the north, you will eventually reach the filming site where the end of the Tom Hanks movie Road to Perdition takes place and a plaque marks this location. There were 6 or 8 cottages built right down at the water's edge back in the 1930s(?) and by the mid 1980s only 3 survived. The last surviving cottage was used for the movie and then demolished as a condition of the usage permit from...

As a port sheldon township resident my whole life, Windsnest has been my favorite beach since I was a little girl. I love the secluded location and enjoy bringing my friends here. I am very disappointed with the township/ottawa county and the new rule on parking/passes they put in place last year. I bought a parking pass to enjoy this lovely beach but still ended up with a parking ticket from ottawa county. Putting up “do not park” signs along all the streets surrounding the park is unnecessary, especially when there is very very minimal parking in the approved parking lot. These signs never existed the past several years, nor does it appear to be a safety hazard to have cars parked off to the side. It seems like a money grab to me which is very distasteful. I understand they need money to keep the park maintained but having cops patrol all day to give out several parking tickets is not the right approach. These changes should have been implemented after a solution for more parking was created. Us michiganders are just trying to soak up the beach for the few short...