It is not clear how the name came about for Crawford county but it may have come from a prominent politician of the era who also has a fort named after him in Prairie du Chien , Wisconsin , his name William H. Crawford. Crawford County is located centrally in the Northen Lower Penisulla, just a little north of Higgins Lake Situated along I-75 where US-27 ends, some say Crawford County is where up north begins.

Native Americans and French traders found Crawford County to be an ideal location to ship furs and other goods due to the fact the AuSable river and the Manistee River are separated by only about a mile in Crawford County . The AuSable flows East into Lake Huron while the Manistee, flows West into Lake Michigan , convenient for fur traders.

The largest city in Crawford County is Grayling, which is named after the nearly extinct Grayling fish, once prevalent in the AuSable River .   One point of interest is the Grayling Fish Hatchery opened originally in 1914. The original purpose was to save Grayling fish. While that effort failed, the Grayling Fish Hatchery still operates today and plants brook, rainbow and brown trout in the AuSable River system.

Crawford County is a rural area with about 70 percent of county land, owned by the state or federal governments.

Crawford County Websites and Locations of Interest

http://www.grayling-mi.com/ Grayling Visitors Bureau

http://www.michigan.gov/hal/0,1607,7-160-17447_18595_18605-50722--,00.html - Hartwick Pines Logging Museum , Grayling