In late fall/early winter of 1862, Emil Baur led a group fifty families to start a colony on the shores of Saginaw Bay. Baur was the founder of the (Methodist) Christian German Agriculture and Benevolent Society of Ora et Labora. Ora Labora was located on Wild Fowl Bay north of Bay Port. This location worked against the success of the settlement in that the water was too shallow for large ships to land, making it difficult to supply the colony, closest place to get supplies being down the Bay at Bay City.The colony had little money available for supplies, because most of their funds were spent buying the land. Many of the colonists were city people that needed to learn from the beginning about how to farm. The colonists also had to fight malaria, and the depletion of their ranks from their men being drafted to fight in the Civil War. The women and elders remaining could not handle the work required to sustain the farming operations. The colony struggled and finally collapsed in 1872.
Information taken from http://thumbtrails.com/sites.html
Please respect this area as the cemetary is very old and overgrown. Watch your step.