Earl Young Mushroom Houses

Earl Young’s curving stone houses are the walk to take in Charlevoix. A self-taught builder, he shaped much of the town’s character with rounded rooflines, wavy eaves and boulders, and he did it without blueprints.

It suits walkers and anyone who likes architecture, and you can do it at your own pace. Pick up a self-guided tour map at the visitor center on Mason Street and start on foot. Many of the houses are within walking distance of downtown, and you can see the others by car.

Look for the style: wide, wavy eaves, exposed rafter tails, cedar-shake roofs and a low, horizontal shape. Those rounded rooflines earned them the nicknames mushroom houses, gnome homes and hobbit houses. The most photographed include the Half House, the Thatch Roof House, the Owl House, Boulder Manor and the Castle House on Round Lake.

The tradeoff is that you see them only from outside. All are private homes and none are open for inside tours, so stay on the street and respect the owners’ property.

Over a career of about fifty years, Young built twenty-six houses and four commercial buildings, working mostly in limestone, fieldstone and boulders gathered around Northern Michigan, and he designed each house to fit its site.