Miller Woods

[1] Miller Woods is also the only part of the National Park that also adjoins the Grand Calumet River.

The northern part of Miller Woods adjoins Lake Michigan, and includes foredunes and high dunes, as well as blowouts and pannes.

Miller Woods was the site of some of Henry Chandler Cowles' earliest observations on ecological succession in the late 19th century.

[2] Subsequently, it was acquired by US Steel for industrial use, and a number of railroads and spur lines were laid through the area.

This had an unintended beneficial impact for the local oak savanna ecology; the sparks thrown off by passing trains maintained the fire cycle that was suppressed in most other parts of the Indiana Dunes during the 20th century.