February 2017
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Less Is More
While gardening is a hobby and passion for some, others don’t have enough hours in the day to maintain them.
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The Need for Speed
It took eight months to build and a big pile of mahogany, but the craftsmen at Grand-Craft in Holland managed to complete a new prototype, the 25 Super Sport, just in time for its Florida debut at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show last November.
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Thinking of Renting out Your Cottage?
When Kristi Poel and her husband purchased an A-frame cabin near Bellaire, they knew they wanted to share it with strangers.
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The World of Loons
As winter days give way to spring, northern Michigan cottage owners often relish the return of the loons. Revered for their eerie, echoing calls and striking coloration, the quintessential bird of the north is, for many, a symbol of all things wild.
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Cocktail Revival
When Dave Kwiatkowski opened Sugar House in Detroit in 2011, he said no one had any idea what he was trying to do.
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Cottage and Waterfront Living at Its Best
Some of us live a lifetime in Michigan and never see a loon; we may have heard their calls on some late winter day, noting their return to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula or most northern parts of the Lower Peninsula, but it is an elusive find.
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The Tile Man
A sign with peeling paint on M-204 outside of Suttons Bay reads “Sporck Tile Art” in red letters. It leads to a tiny, one-of-a-kind gallery, where ceramic artist Leif Spörck sells the tiles he creates.
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Aladdin Readi-Built Cottages
The summer cottage offers perhaps the most popular pleasure and recreation today, just as it did in the early part of the 20th century.
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Great Lake Story 2017: Glen Lake – Chapter One
After selling their long-loved island haven, the Beauregards spent more summer time in Glen Arbor at Molly’s parents’ cottage on the edge of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Shoreline.
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Charting a Course on Inland Seas
Fred Sitkins isn’t your average school administrator. His students aboard the 61-foot schooner, Inland Seas, learn science and math and aquatic ecology, about quagga mussels, plastic pollution and maybe a sea shanty or two.
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The Kettle: A Reflection
Driving over the Mackinac Bridge and west back to the lake retreat her grandparents once owned, she rehearsed what she would say to anyone who caught her: “This little cabin has been in my family for half a century…”
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Pattern Play
There’s a reason organic patterns always have been popular. They are recognizable, and when brought inside, people have the feeling of being outdoors, said Andi Kubacki, co-owner, with Josh Young, of Detroit Wallpaper Co. in Ferndale.
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Secluded Paradise
Known as Round Island, Georgeann and her late husband, Paul, transformed an abandoned lighthouse on the nine-acre island into a true summer escape.
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Living Buffer
Many of the reasons people are drawn to lakefront living — healthy fish, abundant wildlife and clear, clean water — also depend on the individual decisions homeowners make.
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Exploring Henry Ford’s Northern Michigan
Transportation began to change dramatically in 1903, with the founding of the Ford Motor Company and its release of the first Model T in Detroit in 1908.
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Cottages 2017: Contributors
Contributors, Cottages 2017
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Sandblasted
We spent the night with our friends Betsy and Eric in a cottage they had rented on the shore of Lake Michigan near Point Betsie. The cottage was a 1950s-era Cape Cod perched on a dune a pebble toss from the waves breaking on the beach.
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Tying Flies in Winter
Though my family loves spending time outdoors, by late February, they’ve grown tired of sledding and snowmen and yearn for swimming and sunshine. Meanwhile, I dream of fishing — and not through a hole in a frozen lake.
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Muskegon’s Historic Century Club Revival
Today known collectively as the Century Club Center, it reopened in 2011. Its three buildings — Russell Block Market, Century Club Shops and the former Muskegon Saving Bank — houses nearly two dozen specialty retailers, offices and a 3,000-square-foot ballroom.
