Charlevoix & Petoskey · Small town
Bay View
A Victorian summer community beside Petoskey for history lovers and concertgoers, a National Historic Landmark with music and lectures you can attend.
Under a mile away (straight line)
Historic site · Charlevoix & Petoskey
Bay View Association
A Victorian summer community above Little Traverse Bay and a National Historic Landmark, with summer concerts and lectures open to the public.
Bay View is a living piece of Victorian Michigan: a summer community on the wooded slope above Little Traverse Bay, founded in 1875 as a Methodist camp meeting and run for decades as an independent Chautauqua. You do not need to belong to come for the program.
Its 338 acres hold more than 430 cottages, most well preserved partly because they were never winterized. Bay View was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987, and the state counts it among the finest surviving examples of both a camp meeting and an independent Chautauqua.
Come in summer and pick something from the schedule. The association runs concerts, lectures, classes and recreation, and says its programs are open to the public. The Bay View Music Festival and the Sunday vesper concerts are the easy way in.
Then walk the cottage streets on the association’s self-guided tour. Remember that this is a private community and these are people’s summer homes: enjoy the grounds and the public programs, and leave the porches to the residents.
Practical information
- Managed by
- Bay View Association (nonprofit)
- Season
- Bay View is a summer community. Its program of concerts, lectures and classes runs in summer; check the schedule before you go.
- Self-guided tour
- The association publishes a walking tour of the grounds and a Bay View Woods trail guide on its site.
- Landmark status
- Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987.
- Official website
- bayviewassociation.org
Location
Map of Bay View Association
4 places on an OpenStreetMap map
Nearby towns
Also nearby
Straight-line distances, not driving distances.
Attraction
Crooked Tree Arts Center
Petoskey's arts center in a restored 1890 church on Mitchell Street, with free galleries, a 220-seat theater and classes year-round.
About 1 miles away (straight line)
Trail
Little Traverse Wheelway
A paved, non-motorized trail along Little Traverse Bay linking Charlevoix, Petoskey and Harbor Springs, much of it with open views of the water.
About 1 miles away (straight line)
State park
Petoskey State Park
A mile of Lake Michigan beach on Little Traverse Bay between Petoskey and Harbor Springs, with wooded dunes and the climb up Old Baldy.
About 2 miles away (straight line)