The community and the township are named for Presque Isle (literally, "almost an island") which is French for "peninsula".

This peninsula, for which the entire county is named, sits in the northern part of the township and is home to two historic lighthouses.

Only one narrow strip of land, a tombolo, at the southern end of the peninsula connects it to the mainland.

Sunrise and sunset over Lake Huron are both viewable from the sandy beaches along this strip of land.

The community of Presque Isle is located a few miles south of this peninsula and includes a post office, seasonal gas station, chapel, community center, library, and a historic inn, the Presque Isle Lodge.

The New Presque Isle Lighthouse was built in 1870 and is the tallest climbable tower on the Great Lakes.

The 1870 lighthouse museum houses a beautifully preserved Third Order Fresnel Lens which remained active in the tower until recent years.

The many reefs and rocky shoals up and down the coast from Presque Isle Harbor are home to dozens of shipwrecks within the protected waters of Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, which now extends from Alcona County to Cheboygan County.