The village of Glen Haven sprung up as a cordwood station to supply the increasing demand from steamers using the Manitou Passage. By the 1850's fuelwood on the islands was becoming scarce. Charles McCarty established a cordwood station here which he named "Sleeping Bearville". In 1865, McCarty and his men built a dock as long as a football field into Sleeping Bear Bay (some of the old pilings can still be seen). Steamships required 300 cords of wood to travel from Buffalo to Chicago. Long piles of cordwood were stacked along the dock. Sleeping Bear Inn was built in 1863 to house the immigrant workers who cut and hauled wood. From 1865 - mid 1880's, Glen Haven was one of the busiest steamship stops on the Great Lakes. In 1870, the Northern Transportation Company (NTC) bought Glen Haven and the cordwood operation--they had a fleet of 24 steamships. In 1881, David Henry Day or D.H. Day purchased much of the NTC properties and so began the further development of the village and its surroundings. There were 11 buildings on this site at that time. It was popular for people in the community to wait for steamers to come in from Chicago. Businessman returned from their jobs on weekends to be with their vacationing families. On Sunday evenings they would return to Chicago by the following morning--this trip cost $5. But D. H. Day recognized that the era of cordwood was nearing its end as steamers went to coal-fired furnaces, and the woods were becoming depleted. Tourism, and the development of a summer resorts were the next phase of Glen Haven in the early 1900's. In 1928, the Inn was remodeled for tourists. Today, the National Park Service now owns the remaining buildings: Sleeping Bear Inn, D.H. Day Store, Cannery, and Blacksmith's Shop. Park plans call for the restoration of the buildings and activities that used to take place there.

Click for Larger Photo Passenger Liner at the Glen Haven Dock ©1999 Thomas Kachadurian

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