This village was originally a lumberjack settlement on the shore of Lake Huron named "Bark Shanty."

In the late 1840s and 1850s, the settlement gained its first sawmill, schoolhouse, and general store.

Local landmarks include the Port Sanilac lighthouse (burning kerosene from its opening in 1886 until its electrification in 1924) and a twenty-room Victorian mansion (now the Sanilac County Museum) built in 1872 by a horse-and-buggy doctor, Dr. Joseph Loop.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 0.80 square miles (2.07 km2), all land.

Port Sanilac Harbor, Michigan is located on the west shore of Lake Huron, about 30 miles north of Port Huron, Michigan.

The existing project provides for a harbor of refuge protected by breakwater structures extending to 12-foot depth contour in lake; for dredging a harbor basin 10 feet deep; for dredging an entrance channel 12 feet deep; a 70-foot extension of the south breakwater; a 300-foot arm added to the north breakwater; and riprap placed at the lakeward side of the breakwater addition.

36.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 19.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

42.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 26.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

Port Sanilac's last elementary school closed in the early 1980s and the building is now used as the Bark Shanty Community Center.