| PAID CONTENT We all know the legend of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, how a mother and her cubs fleeing a forest fire swam across Lake Michigan—but the cubs never made it, forming North and South Manitou islands while the mama bear waited on shore,...
A half-century after Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore was established in Northern Michigan’s Leelanau and Benzie counties, peace reigns in the most beautiful place in America. Featured in the October 2020 issue of Traverse, Northern Michigan’s...
Have you ever wondered how your favorite Northern Michigan towns were named? Shared from “Michigan Place Names: The History of the Founding and the Naming of More Than Five Thousand Past and Present Michigan Communities” by Walter Romig with the permission...
Where there’s snow, there are memories to be made. Come along for a throwback trip through Northern Michigan ski hill history. BOYNE MOUNTAIN Year Opened: 1948 // Skiable Acres: 415 // Nearest City: Boyne Falls In 1947, Michigan Senator William Pearson sold 40...
Her great-great-great grandparents Alonzo and Alice Slyfield first kept the South Manitou Lighthouse from 1853 to 1859; then Point Betsie Lighthouse for another 20 years. Here Julie Case tells the family stories of the “wickies” who cared for two of Northern...
Benzie County’s small towns with big charm have made it a favorite Northern Michigan vacation destination for generations. Thank you to the Benzie Area Historical Society for sharing these images. Visit the museum and view upcoming programs at benziemuseum.org....
They appear suddenly, tucked in the curve of a county road or nestled in a clearing on a hill. Maybe brick, maybe a faded clapboard, but always with the same sturdy shape: one-room schoolhouses live on in Northern Michigan. Featured in the September 2000 issue of...
The Cherry Hut sells 300 to 400 pies per day in the summer. The record? A tidy 630 pies, sold during a Fourth of July weekend. Nearing 100 years of business, the Northern Michigan restaurant is a local icon. It’s tough for a new enterprise to make it. According to...
Millions of salmon were gathering. Thousands of fisherman were too. And then the storm struck. At the 50th anniversary, Jerry Dennis shares his eyewitness account. This article is featured in the August 2017 issue of Traverse, Northern Michigan’s Magazine. Get...