Traverse City History | Sleeping Bear Dunes

Experience 35 miles of crystal blue coastline, known as Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. 

Tourism is embedded in our history, our community, and our culture. Landmarks offer clues of how Traverse City Michigan grew to be a year-round destination for visitors. Our story begins high above Lake Michigan, with the Chippewa legend of the Sleeping Bear.

Long ago a mother bear and her cubs were forced into the water by a Wisconsin forest fire. They swam all night across the great lake. When mother bear reached shore, she climbed to the highest dune to wait for her cubs but they never arrived. The sands of time covered mother bear and the Great Spirit Manitou raised her cubs as islands just offshore. This solitary dune is known as Sleeping Bear, and her island’s, Manitou.

The ice age and glacial retreat nearly 12,000 years ago shaped the land, lakes, and forests of this area. Perched Dunes tower above 35 miles of crystal blue coastline, a contrast so large and majestic, it can be seen from space. This land now known as the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore played an important role in attracting visitors to northern Michigan.

In 1881, D.H. Day purchased the port town of Glen Haven with money from his savings and a loan from Traverse City’s lumber magnet, Perry Hannah. Passenger steamships brought Chicago businessmen and families to Leelanau for the summer, along the docks of Glen Haven and Port Oneida. A one-way ticket cost $5. In 1920 Day donated land between Glen Haven and Glen Arbor to the state. Visitors can still experience this era in his general store, cannery boat museum, and blacksmith shop. Michigan’s agricultural traditions have been preserved and the many barns and farmsteads in rural Port Oneida, as well as the iconic D.H. Day farm.

The region attracted visitors by the thousands to climb the dunes, paddle rivers, and play along the coastline. Dunes Mobile’s outfitted with balloon tires once carried tourists over the rolling hills. In 1970 Sleeping Bear Dunes was established as a National Lakeshore, to protect and preserve the land. Many plants, animals, and birds call this region home. Including the piping plover, whose nesting grounds are located in the park. Active dunes like these gradually move over time. A ghost forest of skeletal trees, half buried in sand, is evidence of their northeastern shift.

Did you know, the dune climb moves an average of four feet each year? A trip to the visitors center in Empire provides an opportunity to learn more about the park. Become a junior ranger, and explore the museum and gift shop. Ranger-led programs throughout the year include tours, canoe and kayak trips, stargazing parties, and snowshoe hikes in winter. The Sleeping Bear Dunes spans from the Platte River in Benzie County, into the heart of Leelanau in Good Harbor Bay. South Manitou Island marks the entrance to an important navigational channel on the Great Lakes and is home to many shipwrecks. Visitors to the island can see the iron hull of the Francisco Morazán which ran aground in 1960.

Generations of vacationers flock to the sandy beaches, run up and tumble down the doom climb, and explore over 100 miles of hiking trails. The new heritage trail extends 27 miles to connect sites throughout the National Park. No visit to Sleeping Bear is complete without a cruise along the Pierce Stocking scenic drive. Overlook number nine towers, four hundred and fifty feet above Lake Michigan. With this magnificent view, it’s easy to see why Sleeping Bear Dunes was voted America’s most beautiful place, by Good Morning America viewers.

Reminders of our historic beginnings can be found throughout our community, and along the scenic highways that have drawn visitors to Traverse City for generations. For more information about the Sleeping Bear Dunes, visit the Traverse City Visitor Center or go to TraverseCity.com.