Fayette grew up around two blast furnaces, a large dock, and several charcoal kilns, following the post-Civil War need for iron.

Nearly 500 residents—many of them immigrants from Canada, the British Isles, and northern Europe—lived in and near the town that existed to make pig iron.

After shutting down operations, all but about 20 residents left Fayette in search of employment elsewhere, though some chose to stay nearby, subsisting on farming and fishing.

[6] Fayette Historic Townsite is a seasonally open living history museum with restored buildings that visitors may enter to learn about life in the late 19th century.

[7] The park offers 61 campsites and one rental lodge, swimming beach, picnic area, boat launch, fishing pier, and playground.