Long Vacant Sleeping Bear Inn to be Restored
Emily Bingham of mLive writes:
A long-shuttered frontier inn that once boarded lumberjacks and dock workers may be getting a new lease on life as a bed-and-breakfast lodge in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
…Built around 1865, the inn initially offered lodging for business travelers and local workers before evolving into a tourist hotel. A second-floor apartment in the storied inn even briefly housed D.H. Day, namesake for one of Sleeping Bear’s campgrounds and the original owner of the iconic white barn visible from the park’s Dune Climb. The inn has been closed since the mid-1970s; in the meantime, its two-story 1920s-built garage has been serving as storage for the park.
“We have been looking for someone willing to invest in the Inn, and we feel we have an excellent match with BEAR,” said Superintendent Scott Tucker in a release. “The lease will preserve the two buildings and allow greater visitor experience in the historic Glen Haven Village.”
