Silver Lake State Park occupies 2,936 acres along Lake Michigan near Mears, stretching between Lake Michigan and Silver Lake with mature forest, extensive sand dunes, and the Little Sable Point Light. It began in 1920 with Carrie E. Mears’s donation of 25 acres, expanded in 1926 through a federal transfer of 900 acres, and reached its present boundaries in 1951 after the merger of Sand Dunes State Park with the earlier parklands. Organized into motorized dunes, Walking Dunes, and a leased southern section, the park supports recreation while also protecting habitat, including seasonal safeguards for federally endangered piping plovers.