Story Tips

The only freshwater, underwater shrine in the world is located in Petoskey’s Little Traverse Bay. The shrine was dedicated in 1962 in remembrance of divers who have lost their lives. An annual winter event draws crowds who want to view the 11-ft. shrine through the ice.

Michigan has more  golf courses than any other state in the country. More than half of the courses in northwest Michigan have a PGA slope rating of 120 or above. Golfers from coast to coast consider the Petoskey Area a premier golf destination. The area features several wonderful golf courses. Courses range from 17 championship layouts to economical municipal courses. Golfers of all abilities will find courses that both are challenging and enjoyable within 30 minutes of each other.

Pellston Regional Airport of Emmet County, 18 miles northeast of Petoskey, is served by Delta Airlines. The site of this airport often rivals International Falls, Minnesota during winter months as the coldest spot in our country. Jet service is offered.

Winter enthusiasts of all types will enjoy the snowy winters in the Petoskey Area. The ski and snowboard areas of Boyne Highlands, Boyne Mountain, and Nub’s Nob are considered some of the finest in the Midwest. Visitors will find 500-foot vertical drops and state-of-the-art high-speed chairlifts, including America’s first six-place chairlift at Boyne Mountain. Boyne Resorts have been providing the best skiing around for over 50 years. It was in 1947 that Everett Kircher brought a ski lift from Sun Valley, Idaho – the Midwest’s first – to Boyne Mountain in northwest Michigan. Nordic skiing is at its greatest in the Petoskey Area. More than 350 kilometers of trails meander through forest and meadow, bordering scenic lakes and streams. Some are groomed and tracked, and others are lighted for night skiing.  Snowmobilers visiting the area can ride over 140 miles of trails through northwest Michigan’s most impressive terrain. Visitors can also enjoy ice skating and sledding hills at three different outdoor parks in the Petoskey Area and at the indoor Petoskey Ice Arena.

The area’s newest community is Bay Harbor. It stretches over five miles along Little Traverse Bay near Petoskey. The community’s centerpieces are the luxurious Inn at Bay Harbor, Autograph Collection and the upscale Village at Bay Harbor shopping district. Bay Harbor is home to the spectacular Bay Harbor Golf Club, acclaimed by Golf Magazine as one of the top eight golf courses in the United States.  The resort, operated by BOYNE, offers an elegant clubhouse and 27 holes of championship golf designed by Arthur Hills and Stephen Kircher.

The Inland Waterway has been called “one of the most beautiful small boat trips in the country.” The 38-mile waterway is accessible to boats up to 30 feet and runs from Conway to Cheboygan, Michigan. Families can enjoy a day of fun among lakes, rivers, forest, fish and wildlife. Pontoon boat rentals are available along the waterway.

See former Chief Pe-to-se-ga’s souvenir shop, a garden cafe’ that once was the site of bare-knuckle boxing matches, and a rooming house where author Ernest Hemingway lived and wrote. The self-guided walking tour through Petoskey is full of fascinating historical and architectural sites and is detailed in the Petoskey Walking Tour brochure.

Founded in 1875, this is a continuously operating Methodist Chautaqua. Bay View is home to nearly 500 Victorian buildings featuring beautiful and detailed architecture that has earned it an early designation as a National Historic Landmark. Visitors can experience Bay View by lodging and/or dining at one of two historic inns in the Bay View Association,  Stafford’s Bay View Inn or The Terrace Inn.

From infancy to the age of 22, the famous author spent his summers on Walloon Lake and Horton Bay (except his well-publicized year in Italy during World War I.) The Nobel Prize winner actually stayed at Eva Potter’s rooming house at State and Woodland Streets to get away from his parents and to do some serious writing. He was also a frequent visitor to the Noggin Room located in the Perry Hotel (now Stafford’s Perry Hotel.) In 1916, Hemingway returned to the area after a fishing trip that formed the background to his classic short story, “The Battler.”

Hemingway married Hadley Richardson in Horton Bay in 1921 and immortalized many area places and friends in “Up in Michigan,” “The End of Something,” “Torrents of Spring” and the Nick Adams stories.

Petoskey Yesterday offers Hemingway themed tours.

Hexagonaria Percarinata are fossilized 350 million-year-old colony coral found along the shores of Little Traverse Bay near Petoskey. Named the official state stone in 1965.

At one time, three to five billion of these birds existed in the central United States. In the mid-1800’s, Petoskey residents reported that during migrations, a flock one-mile wide would darken the sky for four hours. The last sighting of the birds was March 24, 1900. A permanent display is a part of the Little Traverse Historical Society Museum.