Sleeping Bear Inn
 | This article needs to be updated. The reason given is: reopened in June 2024. (August 2024) |
Sleeping Bear Inn | |
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| Location | Glenn Haven Road, Glen Haven, Michigan |
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| Coordinates | 44°54′15″N 86°1′38″W / 44.90417°N 86.02722°W |
| Area | 1 acre (0.40 ha) |
| Built | 1857 |
| NRHP reference No. | 79000284[1] |
| Added to NRHP | September 6, 1979 |
The Sleeping Bear Inn, also known as the Glen Haven Inn, is a hotel located on Glenn Haven Road in Glen Haven, Michigan. It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1996[2] and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.[1]
History
[edit]This inn, originally called the "Sleeping Bear House," was built in 1857 by C.C. McCarthy, using standard plans.[2] McCarthy also built a sawmill nearby.[3] Development in the area slowed during the Civil War, but after the war's conclusion settlement in the area boomed. In 1865, McCarthy built a dock nearby, and the protected harbor of Glen Haven began to be used as a stop. The Sleeping Bear Inn served as a boarding house for the dock workers and lumberjacks who worked in the area, as well as an inn for passengers travelling on the steamships. It also served as a stopping point for settlers moving into the area. A rear addition was constructed around this time.
In 1878, Philo Chamberlain, president of the Northern Transit Company steamship line, acquired the inn and the rest of the properties in Glen Haven to assure an adequate wooding stop for the company's vessels.[3] Chamberlain chose D. H. Day as his local agent. Day lived in the Sleeping Bear Inn until his marriage in 1889. In the meantime, he purchased the village of Glen Haven from Chamberlain, including the Inn, and opened a general store nearby.
As tourism increased, the Sleeping Bear Inn became more of a resort hotel.[2] The porch was enclosed in 1928.[3] However, usage eventually declined, and the Inn was closed in 1973. The National Park Service purchased the properties in Glen Haven in the mid-1970s, and used the inn as a dormitory for a time. As of 2013, the NOS was seeking proposals for adaptive reuse of the building.[4]
Description
[edit]The Sleeping Bear Inn is a two-story side gable frame building sided with clapboards.[2] A rear addition was constructed later, as was an enclosed porch on the north and east sides.
References
[edit]- ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ a b c d "Sleeping Bear Inn". Michigan State Housing Development Authority: Historic Sites Online. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
- ^ a b c "Glen Haven". national Park Service. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
- ^ Kristine Morris (October 17, 2013). "NPS seeks proposals for Historic Glen Haven Inn". Grand Traverse Insider.
- Hotel buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan
- Commercial buildings completed in 1857
- Buildings and structures in Leelanau County, Michigan
- National Register of Historic Places in Leelanau County, Michigan
- 1857 establishments in Michigan
- National Register of Historic Places in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore