Onekama and Portage Lake

The village of Onekama sits on a narrow neck of land with water on both sides — Portage Lake behind it and Lake Michigan in front — which makes it one of the prettiest spots on this stretch of coast. That double-lake setting is no accident. In 1871, local farmers, fed up with a mill dam that kept flooding their fields, dug a channel from Portage Lake out to Lake Michigan. The lake, which sat about twelve feet higher, came rushing through, and when the water settled, the farmers had accidentally created one of the best small harbors on the lake — and the Onekama we know today. Locals still call it “the Cut.”

Portage Lake is now a busy all-sports lake ringed with cottages, marinas, and resorts, with sandy Lake Michigan beaches a short drive away. The area is known for its artesian wells, summer fruit stands, and sunsets over the water, and the village sits right on the M-22 scenic route.

For buyers, Onekama is a classic northern-Michigan resort community: lakefront and water-view homes, cottages, and year-round houses, with prices that climb the closer you get to the water. Most homes outside the village core are on wells and septic (see the well-and-septic note).