by Guest Bloggers Ann Wojtysiak and Leonardo Tombelli
As lifelong Michiganders, we have learned that mid-July thru August is the best Michigan summer travel period. This summer’s excursion to Petoskey and Little Traverse Bay proved to be no exception!
While the area hosts many hotels, the Terrace Inn and Stafford’s Bay View are fun for a more historic experience located on the Bay View Association property.
Terrace Inn’s 1911 restaurant with Outdoor dining
Stafford’s Bay View Inn (1886)
Stafford’s Bay View Inn has views of Little Traverse Bay.
The Bay View Association’s grounds contain approximately 440 cottages and 30 community-owned buildings.
Bay View Pedestrian bridge over US 31 to Beach. Other facilities include a post office, beach with a swimming area, children’s pool and a sail house.
The Bay View Association and neighborhood was founded in 1875 as a Methodist camp based on the Chautauqua movement. The Chautauqua movement is an adult education and social movement in the United States that peaked in popularity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The four pillars are arts, education, recreation, and religion. Today, the Association is open to all without discrimination.
By the late 1880’s, the Bay View developed into a community featuring Victorian cottages replacing the early “tent city” thanks to the expansion of the railroads.
The community is located on about 340 heavily wooded acres, dropping in a series of terraces from a 200-foot elevation to the shore of Little Traverse Bay. Residents lease the land under the cottages from the Association, which charges annual Chautauqua fees and taxes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_View_Association
Nearly all the structures in the community were built between 1875–1900. Most buildings are Eastlake and Stick style, with some Queen Anne and Shingle style architecture. Cottages are set on 50-foot lots along gently curving streets running along the natural terraces.
If the concept of “New Urbanism” existed in 1900, Bay View would be its archetype, with pedestrian friendly streets, human scale houses, and respectful site planning.
In 1987 the National Park Service designated Bay View as a National Historic Landmark because it is… “one of the finest remaining examples of two uniquely American community forms, “
Petoskey saw the arrival of the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railway in 1873. The railroad changed everything. People could come to the area not only by boat, but via a passenger railcar. Today, the railroad right of ways have been converted into beautiful green ways, parks and a marina, while preserving the historic train stations.
With the arrival of the railway, Petoskey would grow into one of the Mid-west’s most famous destination resort towns, and by the turn of the 20th century, the region become a vacation capital with train routes from Chicago, Detroit, and Cincinnati
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Ernest Heminway was one of the region’s more famous visitors. His family traveled from Chicago and spent many summers at their cottage at Walloon Lake and as a young adult, he frequented downtown Petoskey’s attractions.
Hemingway’s experiences in Northern Michigan play a prominent role in his writing. The most obvious examples are in his Nick Adams stories; 14 of them are set in Northern Michigan, in places like nearby Walloon Lake, Seney, and Mancelona.
