In the late 19th century, an adult education and social movement was moving across the United States called Chautauqua. The word was drawn from the Haudenosaunee — an Iroquois Confederacy of six nations. Centered around entertainment and culture for its members and the community, programs focused on religion, recreation, education, and the performing arts. Chautauquas often brought in speakers, musicians, preachers, teachers, authors, and other leaders of the time.

The Chautauqua Institution became the first installation, founded in 1874 in western New York along Chautauqua Lake (in the city and county of Chautauqua). Throughout the subsequent decades, as many as 400 Chautauquas existed throughout the country.

In September 1875, a group of Michigan Methodists met in Jackson and it was then and there that the Bay View summer camp concept was born — meant to foster the group’s desire “for intellectual and scientific culture and the promotion of the cause of religion and morality.” An idyllic Petoskey location was donated by the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad, which serviced the area — along with freshwater steamers who transported summer residents up from Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, and other Midwest cities to nearby Harbor Springs.

At the time, this picturesque area was still remote, adding to its natural charm. Overlooking Little Traverse Bay, the original 340-acre parcel sat on a rolling bluff covered with thick stands of towering trees. By the summer of 1876, the ground was cleared and massive tents were erected to house the hundreds of people who traveled here for a week of religious talks and sermons. The next year, streets, parks and public areas were platted, and the first 20 cottages were built.

By 1887, there were 125 cottages, a chapel and a hotel. In the subsequent years, an eight-week Summer Assembly took shape following the Chautauqua format. A July 21, 1900, article in The Saginaw News noted there were over 300 pretty cottages at Bay View, with more than 3,000 visitors gathering for lectures, concerts and other summer events. Today, more than 440 cottages — each with their own whimsical name — and more than 30 buildings comprise Bay View, and the programming schedule is diverse and vast.

According to the Bay View Association website, “although conceived by Methodist clergy and laity, promoted by the joint Michigan Methodist conferences, and often sustained at critical moments by Methodist congregations, Bay View has been ecumenical in management and life. From its beginning, Bay View has welcomed persons of any denominational affiliation who have a desire to assist in perpetuating the Association’s principles and purpose. Bay View has consistently retained and continued to follow closely the principles of spiritual growth and cultural advancement initiated and steadfastly practiced by its Methodist founders.”

A look at a cooking class in Historic Bay View Association. Photo credit Bay View Association Archives.

Contrary to misconceptions, Bay View is not a member’s only campus. While the cottages remain private — sitting on land owned by the association — the roads, buildings, trails, facilities, and most programs are open to the public. Throughout the summer season, which runs for eight weeks from mid-June through mid-August, countless cultural programs are hosted at Bay View – from musical and theatrical performances to religious services, a range of art and culinary classes to historic lectures, sporting events like tennis and sailing to birding and hiking nearby trails. There are even programs geared toward children, teens, and young adults. Many of the Bay View programs are offered free of charge – and last year in 2024, residents and visitors enjoyed 93 complimentary events including 20 movies, 45 guest lectures and 53 musical productions, among other programs.

Bay View opens for its 150th Jubilee Season on April 25, 2025. The Summer schedule of events and programs will be posted on the Bay View website around that time.

Did you know?

  • Bay View was added to the Michigan State Historic Register on June 5, 1957, the National Register of Historic Places on March 16, 1972, and became a National Historic Landmark District on December 23, 1987, as “one of the finest remaining examples of two uniquely American community forms, the Methodist camp meeting and the independent Chautauqua.”
  • The Bay View Library, which was formed early in the association’s history has been cited as the best summer colony library in the United States.
  • The Bay View Historical Museum was organized in 1964, occupying the two oldest buildings on the grounds. Among the collections are the Bay View Archives which are accessible to members and the public.
  • Evelyn Hall was originally dedicated on July 24, 1890, as a summer home of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. It is known to be “one of the finest examples of American Victorian ‘Steamboat’ architecture.
  • Bay View is home to two historic inns: The Terrace Inn, with its 1911 Restaurant is located in the heart of the community, and Stafford’s Bay View Inn with its Roselawn Dining Room is perched along the shoreline on US-31.
  • The more than 440 cottages in Bay View represent about a dozen distinct architectural styles.
  • Among the noted special guests to grace Bay View are Helen Keller, Kate Douglas Wiggin (author of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm), political orator William Jennings Bryan, and black educator Dr. Booker T. Washington.
  • Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winning author Ernest Hemingway spent time in Bay View as a teenager and young adult, before launching his professional writing career.
  • American cookbook author, Irma Rombauer had a cottage in Bay View. She wrote her famous The Joy of Cooking there and even taught some of the first cooking classes at Bay View. The family that owns her cottage today has named it “Joyful.”
  • Residents can only live in their Bay View homes from May through October, according to association bylaws, which is acceptable as most are not winterized for summer occupancy.
  • The public is invited to follow the self-guided historic walking tour through the Bay View property (including more than 20 audio recordings).
  • There are seven named trails around the perimeter of the campus known as Bay View Woods, open for walking and popular for birding, as part of a 168-acre natural preserve.
  • Today, just 16 Chautauquas operate in the United States and Canada, collectively marketed as the Chautauqua Trail. Bay View is one of two in Michigan, the other being Epworth Assembly, organized in 1894 in Ludington.

About the Author: Dianna Stampfler is the president of Promote Michigan and the author of the best-selling books “Michigan’s Haunted Lighthouses” and “Death & Lighthouses on the Great Lakes.” She loves traveling around the Great Lakes state, with Hemingway country being among her favorite destinations.