Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third-largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that of Lake Huron through the narrow Straits of Mackinac, giving it the same surface elevation as its easterly counterpart; the two are technically a single lake.
Grand Traverse County is a county located in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the population was 86,986. The county seat is Traverse City.
Garfield Township, officially the Charter Township of Garfield, is a charter township of Grand Traverse County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the township had a total population of 16,256. This makes it the most populous municipality in Northern Michigan.
Peninsula Township, locally known as The Peninsula, is a civil township of Grand Traverse County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the township population was 5,433, up from 5,265 at the 2000 census. The township is coterminous with the Old Mission Peninsula, which projects into the Grand Traverse Bay of Lake Michigan. The Old Mission Point Lighthouse is located at the northern end of the peninsula. The peninsula is included in the Old Mission Peninsula AVA, an American Viticultural Area known for its Michigan wine. The Grand Traverse region has two of Michigan's four federally recognized wine growing areas.
Traverse City is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, although a small portion extends into Leelanau County. It is the largest city in the 21-county Northern Michigan region. The population was 14,674 at the 2010 census, with 143,372 in the Traverse City micropolitan area.
M-37 is a north–south state trunkline highway in the US state of Michigan. The southern terminus is near the border between Kalamazoo and Calhoun counties at exit 92 of Interstate 94 (I-94) southwest of Battle Creek. The northern terminus is at the Mission Point Light on Old Mission Point in Grand Traverse County. In between, the highway connects Battle Creek, Grand Rapids and Traverse City. Motorists will travel through agricultural land, forests, suburbs and large cities along the way. The section of M-37 on the Old Mission Peninsula was designated what is now a Pure Michigan Scenic Byway in 2008.
Old Mission is an unincorporated community in Grand Traverse County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located within Peninsula Township near the tip of Old Mission Peninsula along the shores of the East Arm of Grand Traverse Bay. As an unincorporated community, Old Mission has no legally defined boundaries or population statistics of its own.
Northern Michigan, also known as Northern Lower Michigan or Upper Michigan, is a region of the U.S. state of Michigan. A popular tourist destination, it is home to several small- to medium-sized cities, extensive state and national forests, lakes and rivers, and a large portion of Great Lakes shoreline. The region has a significant seasonal population much like other regions that depend on tourism as their main industry. Northern Lower Michigan is distinct from the more northerly Upper Peninsula and Isle Royale, which, obviously, are also located in "northern" Michigan. In the northernmost 21 counties in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, the total population of the region is 506,658 people.
Grand Traverse Bay is a deep bay of Lake Michigan formed by the Leelanau Peninsula in the northwestern Lower Peninsula of Michigan. The bay is 32 miles (51 km) long, 10 mi (16 km) wide, and up to 620 feet (190 m) deep in spots. It is divided into two arms by the Old Mission Peninsula. The entire bay is conterminous with the Grand Traverse Bay Bottomland Preserve. It should not be confused with Grand Traverse Bay of Lake Superior, located on the Keweenaw Peninsula.
M-72 is a state trunkline highway in the US state of Michigan, running from Lake Huron to Lake Michigan across the northern part of the Lower Peninsula. The highway connects M-22 in Empire with US Highway 23 (US 23) in Harrisville. It is one of only three Michigan state trunklines that cross the Lower Peninsula, shore to shore. In between, M-72 runs across Northern Michigan woodland, agricultural areas of the Leelanau Peninsula near Traverse City, and the Au Sable River watershed. The trunkline also provides access to Camp Grayling, a National Guard training facility near the city of the same name. Traffic levels along the highway vary from approximately 800 vehicles a day on the east end to over 32,000 vehicles near Traverse City.
Omena is a small unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Leelanau Township of Leelanau County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 267. Overlooking Omena Bay, on the western side of Grand Traverse Bay, Omena is home to wineries and farms including a thriving organic farming movement that includes cherries and hops. The area has several wineries featuring some of the region's cherry and grape crop, for which the Grand Traverse and Leelanau areas are known. The nearest substantial city is Traverse City, 23 miles (37 km) to the south.
The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians is a federally recognized Native American tribe located in northwest Michigan on the Leelanau Peninsula. Sam McClellan is the current tribal chairman, elected in June 2016 to a four-year term after succeeding Al Pedwaydon, who served from 2012 to 2016.
Michigan Shipwreck Research Association (MSRA) is an American non-profit corporation based in Holland, Michigan. Formed in 2001 by the former directors of the committee which originally established the Southwest Michigan Underwater Preserve, their stated purpose is to "Preserve Michigan’s Submerged Maritime History." With the discovery of the steamer H. C. Akeley outside the boundaries of the preserve, the group broadened their area of focus and formed MSRA.
Michigan Underwater Preserves or Michigan Bottomland Preserves are protected areas of the Great Lakes on Michigan's coast. The thirteen designated areas, comprising a surface area of over 7,000 square miles (18,000 km2), are considered to be "Underwater museums" and serve to protect concentrations of shipwrecks, unique geologic features and other submerged sites through awareness and public interest. The program is currently receiving no funding from the state and does not offer any extra legal protection for the sites in the preserves. However, it is a felony to remove or disturb underwater artifacts in the Great Lakes. Persons apprehended and convicted of removing or willfully damaging underwater artifacts risk confiscation of their equipment, stiff fines and up to two years imprisonment. The Michigan Underwater Preserve Council advocates on behalf of all of Michigan's Underwater Preserves.
The Old Mission Peninsula AVA is an American Viticultural Area located in Grand Traverse County, Michigan known for well-regarded Michigan wine. The Old Mission Peninsula extends northward from Traverse City into the Grand Traverse Bay of Lake Michigan, ending at Old Mission Point. The peninsula is 19 miles (31 km) long by 3 miles (5 km) wide at its widest point. The climate on the peninsula is moderated by the surrounding waters, helping to prevent frost during the growing season. Grape varietals suitable to cool climates, such as Riesling, Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer, Pinot gris, Pinot noir, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot do best in the Old Mission Peninsula AVA.
The SS Vienna was built in 1873 during the era when steamers were built with sail rigging. She had a 19 year career marked with maritime incidents including sinking when she was just 3 years old. She sank for her final time in fair weather in Whitefish Bay in Lake Superior after she received a mortal blow when she was inexplicably rammed by the steamer Nipigon. Although no lives were lost when the Vienna sank for the last time, more than 100 years later her wreck claimed the lives of 4 scuba divers, the most of all the wrecks in the Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve that now protects her as part of an underwater museum. Her wreck was stripped of artifacts that resulted in the Michigan Department of Natural Resources seizing her artifacts in a raid on the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in 1992. Her artifacts are now on display in this museum as loan from the State of Michigan.
The SS M.M. Drake was a wooden steam barge that towed consorts loaded with coal and iron ore on the Great Lakes. She came to the rescue of the crews of at least 4 foundering vessels in her 19 year career only to meet the same fate in her final rescue attempt. Drake sank in 1901 off Vermilion Point after a rescue attempt of her consort Michigan. Her rudder, anchor, and windlass were illegally removed from her wreck site in the 1980s. They are now the property of the State of Michigan. The rudder is on display as a loan to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum and the anchor and windlass are on loan for display to Whitefish Township Community Center. The wreck of Drake is protected as part of an underwater museum in the Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve.
The Miztec was built as a 3-masted schooner in 1890. She was later converted to a schooner barge and served as a consort for lumber hookers on the Great Lakes. She escaped destruction in a severe 1919 storm that sank her longtime companion, the SS Myron, only to sink on the traditional day of bad luck, Friday the 13th, 1921, with the loss of all hands. She came to rest on Lake Superior's bottom off Whitefish Point near the Myron.
Chateau Grand Traverse is a Michigan winery located in the Old Mission Peninsula AVA around Traverse City. The winery was founded by Edward O’Keefe Jr. and is notable for having the first large-scale planting of Vitis vinifera in Michigan. O'Keefe and Chateau Grand Traverse were also the driving force behind the establishment of an American Viticultural Area on the Old Mission Peninsula back in the 1980s when the estate was the only commercial winery on the peninsula. In 1980, the winery produced Michigan's first commercial ice wine and the 1987 vintage of Chateau Grand Traverse Johannisberg Riesling Ice Wine was served at the presidential inauguration of George H. W. Bush.
Alvin Clark was a schooner that sailed the Great Lakes for almost two decades. Constructed in 1846 or 1847, it sank during a storm in Green Bay in 1864. It was salvaged in 1969 and moored in Menominee, Michigan, at the Mystery Ship Seaport, located in the Menominee River at the foot of Sixth Avenue. The ship was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1972 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974; Alvin Clark was removed from the National Register of Historic Places on June 10, 2020. Although the schooner was in pristine condition when raised, no plans were in place for its conservation, and the ship rapidly deteriorated. The remains of Alvin Clark were destroyed in 1994.
