Arenac County is situated along the Saginaw Bay of Lake Huron in the Great Lakes. It is rich in Indian history because of its abundance of hard chert and flint for arrowheads. It is rich in logging history as a part of the logging industry developed around Michigan's white pine and hardwoods as well as being a conduit to the lake for shipping the lumber produced here. The County also was the location of a 19th century summer resort hotel to which customers arrived by ship. Its history was gradually reshaped due to the disastrous wildfires that eventually destroyed the logging business in the area.

The ACHS Museum was first quartered in a rural schoolhouse and moved to its present facility in 1984, the former Au Gres Methodist Church. The building, itself, is historic [circa 1883]; many of the tools used for its construction are on exhibit in the Museum, along with other historical church documents and artifacts that have been donated by its members.

The Arenac County Historical Society [ACHS] was incorporated in 1970 as a non-profit educational organization to preserve history and to establish and operate a museum.