The two were “blindsided by the fact that we loved the store,” Jessilynn says. Several ski resorts, mostly for cross-country, are nearby, and snowmobiling is another favorite sport.He never thought he’d own the family store, but between undergrad and grad school, Matt Norcross was home working with books at the shop, and he hit it off with Jessilynn, a teacher who had moved to Petoskey to work at her favorite book nook. In winter the bay freezes solid and ice skaters, iceboaters and ice fishermen from both towns swarm out on it to enjoy the winter. Rather, its spic-and-span little corporate limits encompass a number of registered historic buildings, an anachronistic private club founded by millionaires where even today no motor vehicles are permitted, and a string of Victorian-era, mansion-sized wooden "cottages" stretching along the bay, most of them in excellent condition. It is not a place to find budget buffets or chain motels. Upscale Harbor Springs, across Little Traverse Bay and a short drive north of Petoskey, isn't a fudgie town either. "They came from as far away as what is now Ohio, Indiana and Illinois," she said. They began spending the summers in Petoskey about 2,000 B.C., according to archeological findings, said Harrold. In addition to rolling hills, the glaciers and winds left lovely coastlines, peninsulas, rivers, gorgeous lakes and high dunes along Lake Michigan.Įarly Indians recognized the region's assets. The physical assets that make the Petoskey area so special are the product of glaciers that etched these lands 11,000 years ago. Fudgies is the locals' name for regular tourists who load up on the famous fudge that's sold throughout the region. Most summer people stay for the season in their own apartments or houses along some of the many lakes and bays that dot northwestern Michigan.
PETOSKEY GASLIGHT DISTRICT FULL
"It's usually in the 70s, maybe up to 80, and it always cools down at night."Ī tree-shaded town with wide streets, low hills and marinas full of pleasure boats, Petoskey is more a residential than tourist town. "It hardly ever hits 90," said Harrold of the Chamber of Commerce. Petoskey, with a year-round population of 6,200 that triples in summer, is not at all a bad place to spend the hot months. The only semi-tacky souvenir I found in this spiffy little shopping area was "Petoskey stone," a form of coral, carved in the shape of the state of Michigan. Petoskey was spotlighted in a recent issue of Town and Country magazine, which called another downtown place, Symons General Store, "a gourmet shop without rival anywhere."Īnother mouth-watering place is American Spoon Foods on Lake Street, which does a flourishing mail-order business in what owner Justin Rashid calls "the richest fruit preserves in America" and in "edible treasures of the North Woods," which include dried morel mushrooms at $11 for a 1-ounce bag. Gattle's Linens in Petoskey looks like the one on East Las Olas and at other South Florida locations, but the Northern branch has been sold and although the name's the same, the owner is new. as well as on East Las Olas.Įd Behan's Tweed Shop is run by Homer Golden, a Petoskey native who married Ed Behan's widow they live on Walloon Lake.
Other branches are open all year in Boca Raton, the Broward Mall in Plantation, Fort Myers and Highlands, N.C. The Games Imported Michigan store is managed by Rose Case. "Often I'll take an order in Michigan and deliver it in Florida, or vice versa." He heard about Petoskey from someone at Maus and Hoffman. "Many of my Southern customers have summer places up here," he said. Hal Kingery has been operating his Mister K women's custom tailoring and dressmaking shop on the Galt Ocean Mile for 20 years, and in Petoskey for 16 years. and his sister Brett Baker Colonel helping with management when I stopped by. "It was a deli and restaurant, and a hangout of Ernest Hemingway when his family spent summers around here." Hemingway, whose family had a cottage on Walloon Lake near Charlevoix - a small resort town south of Petoskey - wrote about "Brown's Beanery" in his story Torrents of Spring that was set in the streets of Petoskey.īob Baker Shoes, open in summer in Petoskey, in winter on East Las Olas and in Naples, had Bob Jr.
"This store used to be called Braun's," Grant recalled.
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