In General
Getting Here
Map
Sights
USGS Maps

 

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In General

Train wise, the only thing in Suttons Bay to see is the old railroad station.

Otherwise, Suttons Bay is full of eateries and cool little shops to spend your money in.

About 20 miles to the north is the Leelanau State Park, and it has one of the preserved Michigan light houses, the Grand Traverse Lighthouse.

Suttons Bay is almost at the north end of line for the Pere Marquette/Chesapeake & Ohio, it went up to Northport as it's final destination.

This page is a breakout page from my Traverse City guide, so I retained the sight numbering to agree with the Traverse City map.

The only reason I started coming to the area of Traverse City and Suttons Bay is because my Aunt had a summer home here on Lake Leelanau, and had friends that lived right across the street from the depot!  How about that for a small world? :-) 
The small map of Suttons Bay below is off of my Traverse City PDF, if you need to find it, go to the Traverse City page.  Friends of my aunt and uncle live across from the depot at the yellow dot, in case you're wondering :-)


Getting Here

On the eastern side of the state, such as Detroit or Ann Arbor, you can come up I-75, and jump off at Grayling, heading west on 72 into TC via Kalkaska.  Grayling is roughly 50 miles from TC.  Out of Ann Arbor, you should head north US23 till it joins up with I75 in Flint.

On the western side of the state, from Grand Rapids for instance, head north on US131 till you're just south of Cadillac, then head north (NW) on 115 (but make sure you stop in Cadillac for the depot).  Hop on 37 north at Mesmick, and your only 25 miles from TC.

From the center of the state, as in Lansing, head north on US127.  When you hit Clare / Grant Township, you have a decision to make, for you can stay on 127 till it joins up with I-75, and then do the Grayling and route 72 thing.  Or, you can US10 west a shorts ways till you cross 115, and take that up to TC via Cadillac.

Obviously, coming from the U.P, there is really only one choice of coming down I-75 and again, getting off at Grayling for route 72.

Once you have hit Traverse City, just follow the M22 up about 15 miles to Suttons Bay.


Map

 

Click here for the map in PDF format


Sights


   The Sutton's Bay Depot

The depot was built by the Leelanau Transit Company in 1920.  Tracks going north were removed in the 1960's.  Over the years, the railroad was operated by the Leelanau Transit Co, then later leased to the Manistee and Northeastern, the Pere Marquette, and finally the C&O.  The last operator was the Leelanau Scenic RR between 1989 and 1995, when an accident caused a lot of local opposition and subsequent closing of the operations.  An architect currently uses the building.

 

 



Standing in the street to the following picture, if you turn about 90 degrees to your left, you will get the first view below in the floobydust section of Main St.



The following picture came off of an O-Gauge modelers forum for the Manistee & Northeastern RR boxcar, but since it was staged in front of the Suttons Bay depot, I grabbed it for my Michigan stations page




Floobydust

  Main street in Suttons Bay with an approaching storm at sunset.

  One of the more interesting places to shop in Suttons Bay.

  You pass this on the way up to Suttons Bay.

I'm always amazed with the size of the trucks Michigan allows on it's highways.....

 

The Leenanau State Park is about 19 miles north on the very tip of the peninsula.
More info: http://www.michigan.org/lighthouses#?c=44.4299:-85.1166:7&tid=54&page=0&pagesize=20&pagetitle=Lighthouses
Wikipedia lists around 129 lighthouses that are still standing - active and inactive, the first one built in 1825 is still with us:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lighthouses_in_Michigan

 


Historical USGS Maps


Courtesy of the University of Texas Library, click here for their index page.




2009-0723, 2009-0724, 2010-0906, 2010-0909, 2007-0919

NEW 6-15-2013
Last Modified 28-Jun-2017