Traverse City

Enjoy a tour of the nine guest rooms plus two 2-bedroom carriage house suites in an authentically-restored, neoclassical mansion. It is possible to set up a catered dinner, lunch, high-tea or dessert and coffee to go along with your tour. 

Located in the historic Park Place Hotel, Minerva’s offers casual family dining in downtown Traverse City. They have a full menu with fish, seafood, pastas, steaks, salads, specialty pizzas and desserts. 

Hannah, an old-fashioned lumber baron who ran Traverse City as his personal kingdom, lived most of his life in a fairly modest home near the waterfront. In old age, however, he spared no expense on his mansion, which cost $35,000 to build in 1893. He had carpenters use a different type of wood in each room and also had ten fireplaces throughout the mansion, though most were never used. Hannah personally directed the building of the other elegant homes on Sixth Street – but he wasn’t able to control the love life of his son and heir, Julius, who married the neighbor’s daughter against his father’s wishes.

Located in Traverse City’s 1903 Carnegie Library building in Lay Park, the Heritage Center houses several different historical and cultural collections in newly refurbished galleries. Visitors can see Native American artifacts from several periods as well as exhibits about railroads, the Northern Michigan Asylum, a blacksmith shop, one-room schools and a Victorian parlor.

This 120-year-old restaurant and tavern, built by the Bohemian craftsmen who came to Traverse City as skilled millworkers, still features original tin ceilings, maple floors and mahogany bar. A popular local hangout, it features a famous stuffed moose named Randolph.

Located in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, the “ghost port” of Glen Haven includes the remains of a giant shipping dock and a former cannery that houses an interesting collection of boats. Nearby is a restored lifesaving station where visitors can see how the gallant men of the U.S. Life Saving Service risked their lives to rescue shipwreck victims on the stormy Leelanau coast. The Museum includes displays about the history of the Life Saving Service and daily life at an isolated rescue station, and interpreters often demonstrate some of the equipment used in rescue operations.

The Port Oneida Rural Historic District includes farms where German and Bohemian immigrants struggled to build a community at the edge of Lake Michigan in the 1850’s. The District includes as many as 200 historic structures.

This picturesque warren of former fishing shanties at the mouth of the Carp River is now a popular tourist attraction, where gift shops and art galleries now occupy the buildings that once housed fishing gear, smokehouses and icehouses. But Fishtown is still home to two working fisheries and a thriving charter fishing industry, as well as a commercial ferry service to the Manitou Islands.

Enjoy waterfront dining in the Historic Fishtown with views of Lake Michigan and the Manitou Islands, near Sleeping Bear Dunes and walking distance to shops. The Cove specializes in fresh whitefish, homemade desserts and up-north hospitality.

One of the oldest lighthouses on the lakes, the Grand Traverse Lighthouse at the tip of the Leelanau Peninsula has guided ships through the northern entrance to the Manitou Passage for over 150 years. Located 9 miles north of Northport in the Leelanau State Park, the lighthouse was home to generations of keepers and their families. Extensive exhibits chronicle their lives and the experiences of those who sailed the lakes.

This settlement on the eastern shore of the Leelanau Peninsula was founded in 1853 by a group of Ottawa Indians from Cross Village in northern Emmet County. Together with several other Native American groups who arrived at about the same time, they eventually formed the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians have built a new tribal museum and cultural center in this native community. The interior of the two-story center includes galleries, archives, museum store, and classrooms. 

Trattoria Stella, in the cellar of Traverse City’s former mental asylum, is part of the new Village at Grand Traverse Commons redevelopment project. Owners Paul and Amanda Danielson have used the brick walls and vaulted ceilings of the 100-year-old building to create a neighborhood restaurant and bar with strong roots in fine traditional food, wine and service.