Leland, Fishtown, and the Manitou Islands

On the Lake Michigan side of the peninsula sits Leland, a small town with one of the most photographed spots in Michigan: Fishtown. This is a cluster of weathered wooden fishing shanties, docks, and smokehouses along the Leland River, a working waterfront that dates back more than a century and is now a preserved historic site. You can walk the plank boardwalk, buy smoked whitefish, browse the little shops, and watch the boats come and go. Leland was the county seat until 2008, and it still anchors this part of the county.

Leland is also the jumping-off point for the Manitou Islands. North and South Manitou are wild, mostly uninhabited islands a few miles offshore, part of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, and the passenger ferry to them leaves right from Leland’s harbor in the warmer months — South Manitou with its old lighthouse and a shipwreck you can see from the beach, North Manitou a designated wilderness for backpackers. Inland, long and narrow Lake Leelanau runs down the spine of the peninsula, split into a north and south lake by a channel called the Narrows, where the little community of Lake Leelanau sits.

For buyers, this is prime water country: Lake Michigan frontage near Leland and frontage on clear Lake Leelanau are both highly prized and priced accordingly. The quieter, more rural townships inland (like Centerville, around the lake) offer a bit more room and value. Homes outside the sewered Leland area are on wells and septic (see the well-and-septic note).