Sleeping Bear Dunes Archives - Lost In Michigan

Glen Haven

The village of Glen Haven is a few miles west of Glen Arbor in the Sleeping Bear Dunes. The town started out as a place for steamships to stock up on firewood to fuel the steam boilers. Over time the town became more of a resort community. By the mid 1970s it had pretty much declined to nothing. The National Park Service has taken over the little town and restored the blacksmith shop and general store. The old cannery is now used as a maritime museum. During the winter months it is rather quiet but in the summer it is bustling with tourists exploring and learning about days gone by.

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Ken-Tuck-U-Inn

Posted on February 21, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Historic Places, Sleeping Bear Dunes .

If you have ever visited the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and driven down M-22, you probably marveled at the natural beauty as I have. Several historic houses and buildings can also be seen on M-22. In the southern part of the National Lakeshore nestled in the woods not far from the road is a light yellow house. It was built by Bertie and Donna Bancroft in the late 1920s as a boarding house for travelers visiting the area. On Sundays, the inn was a popular destination for tourists to enjoy one of Donna’s chicken dinners. During the peak season in summer, she would serve over 100 tourists using the chickens she raised at the inn. Bertie lived in this house until his death in 1963. Donna died the following year. The historic old house is now part of the National Lakeshore and is maintained by the National Park Service.

Bertie and Donna Bancroft cam from the nearby town of Aral which is a ghost town. you can read about it in my post HERE

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Michigan’s Sleeping Bear Dunes Boekelodge

Posted on September 19, 2018 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Historic Places, Houses, Sleeping Bear Dunes .

The Boekelodge is in the southern part of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The cabin was originally built in the 1930’s and then left abandoned after a few years. In 1945, the cabin was purchased by the Boekeloo family and updated. A canal was dug from the plat river to flood the low-lying areas for a cranberry bog. The cabin overlooks a pond and is now owned by the National Park Service. A seasonal road off M-22 leads back to the cabin where you can hike the area including a trail that goes to Lake Michigan. It’s a lesser-known part of the National Lakeshore, and you have to know where to find Boekeloo Road, since there is no sign along M-22 telling visitors there is a lodge hidden in the woods. You can find more info and a detailed location of the Boekelodge and many other interesting locations in the Lost In Michigan book available on Amazon HERE

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