Lake Charlevoix, MI
In the foreground is Lake Michigan. The little lake is Round Lake where we are docked. The large lake is Lake Charlevoix with its South Arm.
Lake Charlevoix (18NM) A short trip to Lake Charlevoix, so fast in fact, that we had to wait for the bascule bridge to open. While we wait several big boats do what I really don’t like to see, pass without any VHF announcement in a skinny channel with a wind and current...very rude and very impolite. We clear the bridge with oncoming traffic and hail the marina for our slip assignment. The wind has now built and is gusting to 12 knots as Larry expertly maneuvers us into the slip. We are also very appreciative of Charlevoix City Marina’s tight docking crew. Charlevoix is named for the French explorer, Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix who explored this region in the 1850’s. The Homestead Act of 1862 brought Civil War veterans and land speculators to Northern Michigan. This act made 160-acre tracts of land available for $1.25 an acre. Eventually, with the augmentation of Round Lake (located before Lake Charlevoix) to connect to Lake Michigan combined with rail operations, this area became one of the busiest ports on the Great Lakes shipping out more than 40 million board feet of lumber. Now the area is a summer retreat for many local Michiganians and tourists alike. We jog and bike all about town and then take a tender ride out to the huge body of water that is Lake Charlevoix. We ride down to the South Arm and look at all the pretty houses and then head back to Round Lake as the afternoon winds pick-up.
Welcome to Lake Charlevoix
The evolution of a bascule bridge
Bridge Street Tap Room is a great place to have a local craft beer
So many choices of local craft beers at the Bridge Street Tap Room
Don’t miss the great fish tacos at the Cantina and a nice selection of tequila & mexican beer
Independence at her slip at the Charlevoix City Marina in Round Lake
The famous ‘Thatch House’ built in 1919 by Earl Young and remodeled in 2013 by Michael Seitz.
The Thatch House is now a vacation rental
This is the little cottage next to The Thatch House. This is what Earl Young’s original architectural design looked like for both houses. Over 52 years Young designed and built 31 structures in Charlevoix. He worked with limestone, fieldstone and boulders he found throughout Northern Michigan. His houses are often referred to as ‘mushroom ‘ houses.
Another Earl Young building is The Weathervane Lodge, a landmark along the channel at the bascule bridge (built in 1958). It was almost lost in 1971 during very high water and winds reaching hurricane force. The original pilings & sections of foundation were washed out from underneath the structure. The Army Corp of Engineers came in and saved the property by placing metal sheet pilings from the bridge all the way to Lake Michigan.
A pretty victorian era house on the bluff above channel
The floating homes of the South Arm. The wet bar ‘Shaken Knot Stern’ is the made out of the stern portion of an old wooden boat.
A huge home on the South Arm
It is always nice to have a boat garage for your sailboat
Built in 1892 the Charlevoix Train Depot has been renovated and turned into a park called Depot Beach Park
Fisherman’s Island State Park along Lake Michigan
Larry & I ride the bikes to the beach and go for a swim in Lake Michigan