County note shelf
Leelanau County Porch Notes
Stories, practical details, outdoor places, tax quirks, and local history connected to Leelanau County. This shelf has 11 practical notes and 23 local stories.
34 notes
Read the county shelf
- History and culture Empire: Gateway Village to Sleeping Bear Dunes Empire sits at the entrance to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore — a small village that outlasted the logging era and now anchors one of Michigan's most-visited parks.
- History and culture Empire's Asparagus Festival Every June, Empire's Chamber of Commerce fills downtown with an asparagus-themed street festival — a fun run, recipe contest, local food and drink, live music, and a community poetry contest.
- History and culture Glen Arbor, Glen Haven, and Sleeping Bear Dunes Glen Arbor sits at the M-22 and M-109 junction at the edge of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, where Glen Haven's historic buildings — including D.H. Day's once-multipurpose general store — are still open to visit inside the park.
- Home and property Leelanau Township's Private Road Ordinance Leelanau Township has a formal ordinance governing private roads — a useful first stop for anyone buying property on a private road there.
- History and culture Leelanau's History, Collected and Kept in Leland The Leelanau Historical Society Museum holds more than 20,000 items — from Anishinaabek arts to Great Lakes shipwrecks — and a deep newspaper archive going back to 1858.
- History and culture Port Oneida: A Farming Village Frozen in Time The Port Oneida Rural Historic District preserves more than 3,400 acres of intact farm landscape from an 1860s German immigrant community, now protected inside Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
- Home and property Short-Term Rental Permits in Leelanau Township Leelanau Township requires a permit for any short-term rental, with guest limits tied to bedroom count and septic capacity.
- History and culture The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians has roots in the Grand Traverse region going back to the 1830s; after two earlier denials, the federal government formally re-recognized the tribe on May 27, 1980.
- Money and taxes The Principal Residence Exemption in Leelanau Township When you buy property in Leelanau Township as your primary home, filing for the Principal Residence Exemption — and a Property Transfer Affidavit — are the first tax steps to take care of.
- History and culture Northport, the lighthouse, and the tip of the peninsula Northport, Omena, Leelanau State Park, and the Grand Traverse Lighthouse anchor the quiet northern tip of the Leelanau Peninsula.
- Outdoors Fishing Sleeping Bear: Lakes, Fish, and the Rules That Matter Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore holds more than 90 native fish species and some great fishing spots — here's what licenses and permits you'll need, and which waters are worth your time.
- Outdoors Lake Leelanau: Two Basins, One Lake Lake Leelanau runs as two connected basins — North Lake Leelanau near Leland and South Lake Leelanau — joined by the Lake Leelanau Narrows before draining to Leland's waterfront at M-22.
- Outdoors The Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail The only bike trail in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore — about 22 miles of mostly paved path through rolling hills, dunes, and forest, open to cyclists, walkers, and winter skiers.
- Outdoors Inland Leelanau: Cedar, Maple City, and the farm country Cedar, Maple City, orchards, vineyards, farms, and wooded acreage define the quieter inland side of Leelanau County.
- History and culture Leland, Fishtown, and the Manitou Islands Leland, Fishtown, Lake Leelanau, and the Manitou Island ferry anchor the historic Lake Michigan side of the Leelanau Peninsula.
- History and culture How Many Great Lakes Does Michigan Actually Touch? Michigan touches four of the five Great Lakes (everything but Ontario) — the only state that does — and Lake Michigan is the only Great Lake entirely inside the U.S.
- History and culture Michigan Grows Nearly Three-Quarters of the Nation's Tart Cherries (and Throws a 100-Year Party for Them) Michigan grows nearly three-quarters of the nation's tart cherries, and Traverse City throws its 100th National Cherry Festival in 2026.
- Outdoors Michigan Touches Four of the Five Great Lakes — and Has the Longest Freshwater Coastline in the Country Michigan borders four of the five Great Lakes and has the longest freshwater coastline in the country — 3,288 miles of it, including the place Good Morning America once called the most beautiful in America.
- History and culture Power Island: Henry Ford's Island Getaway A 200-acre island in Grand Traverse Bay that Henry Ford kept as a private retreat — now a public park.
- Outdoors South Manitou Island: Giants and a Ghost Ship Ancient cedars, a deep-water harbor, and a freighter wrecked just offshore on an island in Sleeping Bear Dunes.
- History and culture The Dogman: A Monster That Was Invented as a Joke, Then Came True The Michigan Dogman was invented by a Traverse City DJ as a 1987 April Fools' prank — then listeners started calling in to report they'd seen it.
- History and culture The Jilted Wife of Bowers Harbor Inn The Bowers Harbor Inn ghost legend paints a jilted wife who hanged herself — but the real Jennie Stickney died of natural causes, and the story does her wrong.
- History and culture Wine on the 45th Parallel: Michigan's Cool-Climate Boom On the 45th parallel near Traverse City, two slender peninsulas have grown into Michigan's serious, Riesling-loving wine country.
- Outdoors Glen Lake: Two Depths, One Glacial Story Glacier-carved Glen Lake sits inside Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, split into a 130-foot-deep Big Glen and a shallow Little Glen, with public access for swimming, paddling, and fishing at the Little Glen Lake Picnic Area.
- Home and property Inland Lake Levels and Special Assessments in Leelanau County Michigan law can set a lake's water level by court order, and both waterfront and lake-access parcels may owe annual special assessments to maintain it.
- Home and property Sleeping Bear's Moving Shoreline: Bluff Erosion and Coastal Landslides The bluffs at Sleeping Bear Dunes are glacial moraines that erode continuously and can slide suddenly — and Lake Michigan's cyclical water levels mean the risk rises and falls over the decades.
- Outdoors Sleeping Bear Dunes Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore protects Leelanau's dunes, Glen Lake gateways, trails, and scarce private property near the park.
- Outdoors The Leelanau wine peninsula and the bay shore The Leelanau Peninsula's Grand Traverse Bay shore, vineyards, orchards, Suttons Bay, Peshawbestown, and Greilickville shape this side of the county.
- Home and property Bluffs, Dunes, and Erosion on Leelanau's Lake Michigan Shore Leelanau's Lake Michigan bluffs and dunes are ancient glacial features still actively eroding — landslides, moving sand, and high-water years all matter if you're eyeing shoreline property.
- History and culture Kalkaska Sand Few states have an official soil; Michigan does. Kalkaska sand is found nowhere else on Earth, covering close to a million acres of the state's glacial, sandy ground.
- Rules and licenses In Leelanau County, Your Township Handles More Than You'd Think In Leelanau County, your township — not the county — handles zoning, property assessment, STR permits, and private road rules, and each township sets its own policies.
- Home and property Well and septic in Leelanau County Leelanau County has a countywide time-of-transfer rule requiring well and septic evaluations before most property sales or transfers.
- Money and taxes Buying in a township? Watch for special assessments on top of your taxes Michigan township buyers should check for special assessments that can add separate road, sewer, water, lighting, sidewalk, or drain charges.
- Money and taxes In Michigan, you get two property-tax bills a year — not one Most Michigan property owners get separate summer and winter tax bills, with local rules deciding what lands on each bill.