Hemingway's Michigan Tour Sites
Born July 21, 1899, Ernest Hemingway spent all of his summers growing up and one fall and part of one winter in northern Michigan except for the 1918 summer when he was in a hospital in Italy recovering from wounds he sustained in WWI. He only returned once after his marriage to Hadley Richardson in Horton Bay on September 3, 1921 because he said the time he spent in northern Michigan was the happiest and clearest part of his life and he was afraid civilization had spoiled it.
More of his short stories are set in Michigan than in any other place. They feature the Hemingway-like character Nick Adams and are largely based on the people and places he experienced in the Little Traverse Bay region.
For over thirty years The Michigan Hemingway Society has promoted interest in Hemingway's literary and personal connections to northern Michigan. At its bi-annual conference, webinars, and newsletters, and through statewide partnerships and presentations, the MHS has raised awareness and appreciation of these connections.
For decades, readers of the Nick Adams stories (and of his novel, The Torrents of Spring, which is set in Petoskey) have traveled to northern Michigan to see the sites associated with the stories and with Hemingway himself. Until recently visitors have had to search for these locations on their own since there were no signs or publications to guide them.
To assist people seeking to discover Hemingway's Michigan, the MHS proposed a self guided tour to be supported by permanent markers at significant locations, a print publication, and a website where additional information could be found.
Using MHS founding board member Ken Marek's exhaustive research, sites were chosen, and work on the publication and website began. Generous northern Michigan funders made all of this possible.
The tour was inaugurated in June 2012 to coincide with the International Hemingway Society's conference at Petoskey - Bay View. Many tour locations in Petoskey can easily be walked. Other sites are several miles from Petoskey and are clustered around places he knew well such as Walloon Lake and Horton Bay.
In taking the tour, individuals may gain further historic and contemporary insights into this place that was Hemingway's northern home and the writing it inspired.
Hemingway Site Plaques
- Pere Marquette Railroad Station
- Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad Station
- Perry Hotel
- The Annex
- McCarthy's Barber Shop
- Jesperson's Restaurant
- Carnegie Library Building
- Potter's Rooming House
- Pinehurst and Shangri-La
- Horton Bay General Store
- Horton Creek
- Kalkaska Country
- Brauns Restaurant
- Pigeon River Country
- Walloon Lake
Other Michigan Hemingway Sites
#1 - Pere Marquette Railroad Station
100 Depot St, Petoskey, MI 49770 (Map)
Currently the Little Traverse History Museum
#2 - Grand Rapids and Indiana (GR&I) Railroad Station
9 Pennsylvania Plaza, Petoskey, MI 49770 (Map)
Currently the Pennsylvania Plaza Office Complex
#3 - Perry Hotel
100 Lewis St, Petoskey, MI 49770 (Map)
Across the street from the Ernest Hemingway statue in Pennsylvania Park
#8 - Potter's Rooming House
602 East State Street, Petoskey, MI 49770 (Map)
This is a private residence and not open to the public.
#9 - Pinehurst and Shangri-La
5738 Lake St, Boyne City, MI 49712 (Map)
These are private residences and not open to the public.
#12 - Kalkaska Country
#13 - Brauns Restaurant
#14 - Pigeon River Country
#15 - Walloon Lake
M1 - Walloon Village Historical Marker
Melrose Township Park, 3992 M-75, Walloon Village, Michigan 49796 (Map). At the foot of Walloon Lake (Map).
The marker here is a State of Michigan historical site marker and not one of the Michigan Hemingway Society plaques.
This marker pays homage to the Hemingways' association with Walloon Lake. In 1898 Clarence and Grace Hemingway traveled to the area and were so impressed that they bought a parcel of land with 200 feet of waterfront from the Bacon family. In September 1899 they brought infant son Ernest with them when they returned to make arrangements for the cottage they named Windemere. Beginning in 1900 the family would travel north each summer and come through Walloon village where they would get off the dummy train and catch a steamship to take them to Windemere. They would also do shopping and socializing here.
M2-Walloon Lake Public Access & Boat Launch
From Horton Bay take the Charlevoix-Boyne City Rd. going southeast for approximately one mile. Then turn left (due east) on to Sumner Rd. and follow it to the end. Looking out at the lake, the property on the right hand side of the road was once Longfield Farm.
This site offers a panoramic view of Walloon Lake. In Hemingway's "Wedding Day," it is the spot from which Nick Adams and his new bride Helen begin their honeymoon by rowing across the lake to the cottage where they will be staying-just as Hemingway and Hadley Richardson did after their wedding.
Looking out at the lake, the property on the right hand side of the road was once the Hemingway’s Longfield Farm. In 1905 Grace Hemingway used part of the inheritance she received from her father and purchased a 40-acre farm here. Over the years, with the help of the Washburn and Sumner families, they improved the property by planting fruit trees, vegetables and hay. Ernest regularly worked here in the summers and frequently camped here in a tent. It is also the site of Grace Cottage, a get away structure Grace had built for herself in 1919.
The property that was Longfield Farm is now private and not available for visitors.
M3-Lake Charlevoix Public Access & Boat Launch
At the south end of Lake Street, Horton Bay. At the foot of Walloon Lake (Map).
This spot affords an open view of the bay, the woods and beach leading to Ten Mile Point, and the expanse of Lake Charlevoix. Hemingway used this bay and its surroundings as a setting in "The End of Something," "Summer People," "On Writing" and "Up in Michigan."
M4-Evelyn Hall
On the campus of the Bay View Conservatory, Petoskey, Michigan 49770. In Bay View (Map).
During the winter of 1919-1920, Hemingway found his writing efforts were sometimes interrupted too much by well-meaning friends. To guarantee his privacy, he is reported to have occasionally "escaped" to a small room (equipped with a wood burning stove) in Evelyn Hall, a women's dormitory that was unoccupied during the winter.
Ernest Hemingway Statue in Petoskey, Michigan
Pennsylvania Park, Petoskey, MI 49770 Michigan 49796 (Map).