6 Undiscovered Small Towns in the Great Lakes Region

Every stretch of the Great Lakes has one famous town and a quieter one right next to it. Undiscovered is a generous word for the quiet ones, since people obviously live there. The rest of us just forget they exist. They are small working harbors that buzz for a few summer weeks and then settle down, the sort of place where the smokehouse still smokes and the lighthouse still works. Port Austin is a great one to start with. The whole town orbits a sea stack you can reach only by kayak that most of Michigan has never seen.

Elk Rapids, Michigan

Elk Rapids has water on both sides and a river down the middle. Elk Lake to the east, Grand Traverse Bay to the west. The Elk Rapids Area Historical Museum has the lumber-era story, a block from the harbor. Elk Rapids Day Park hands you a sandy beach in the middle of town, no drive required.

Two miles south on US-31, Guntzviller's Spirit of the Woods Museum packs its rooms with Michigan taxidermy and a pile of Native American artifacts. The chain of lakes north of town is calmer than the bay. Torch Lake gets all the postcards for its color. Skegemog gets the people who actually want to catch fish.

Port Austin, Michigan

Port Austin is where Michigan's Thumb gives out and hands the rest to Lake Huron. Downtown is barely a quarter-mile long. You can walk it before your coffee goes cold. The Bank 1884 serves dinner in an old brick bank, built in, you guessed it, 1884. On summer Saturdays the farmers market takes over downtown.

Turnip Rock is a tree-topped lump of limestone, reachable only by water. The paddle is about three and a half miles each way. It is harder than it looks. Lake Huron cancels plans on windy days, so most people rent from an outfitter in town. Port Crescent State Park is just west, with dunes and a dark-sky preserve.

Bayfield, Wisconsin

Bayfield faces the Apostle Islands across a thin strip of Lake Superior. Apple orchards stack up on the hills out back. The Bayfield Maritime Museum has the shipping and fishing history, in a couple of rooms by the water. The Brownstone Trail starts downtown and follows an old rail grade along the lake. Come fall, the orchards let you climb a ladder and pick your own.

Apostle Islands National Lakeshore is right offshore, one of Wisconsin's natural wonders. Kayakers paddle into the sandstone sea caves. Boat tours loop past lighthouses that once kept ore freighters off the rocks. The ferry from the town dock reaches Madeline Island, the only one with year-round residents. Bring a bike.

Marblehead, Ohio

Marblehead gets its own little peninsula. Sandusky Bay on one side, open lake on the other. The lighthouse has stood at the tip since 1822, the oldest one still working on the US side of the Great Lakes. It comes with a state park, a keeper's museum and a clear view of the Lake Erie islands. The Wolcott Keeper's House next door is the oldest home in Ottawa County.

Ferries run to the Lake Erie islands all season. Kelleys Island is the shortest hop. East Harbor State Park is a few minutes up the road, with a long beach and no lighthouse selfie crowd. It clears out the week school starts.

Leland, Michigan

Leland's Fishtown turned a working dock into a tourist stop without ever airing out the smell of smoked whitefish. The gray shanties along the Leland River still sell actual fish. Carlson's Fishery has smoked it on that spot for over a century. The Cove plates whitefish and the Chubby Mary on a deck over the dam. Verterra Winery handles the wine, a block up River Street.

Van's Beach is a two-minute walk away. Locals comb it for Leland Blue, slag stones left over from an old iron smelter. The Leelanau Peninsula Wine Trail lines up vineyards just outside town. Lake Leelanau, on the back side of town, is calmer than the big lake.

Sackets Harbor, New York

Sackets Harbor was the US Navy's main base on Lake Ontario during the War of 1812. The town has never quite let go of it. The battlefield holds the edge of the village, with a restored 1850s Navy Yard and Commandant's House. In summer, guides in 1813 uniforms act out camp life. The Sackets Harbor Historical Society Museum and the Pickering-Beach Museum handle the civilian half.

The harbor has a marina and walking paths, minus the cattle-chute crowds of the bigger ports. This corner of upstate New York goes quiet most of the year. A few minutes south, Westcott Beach State Park has the sandy swimming beach the village never got around to. It packs out on hot weekends and empties by dinner.

Undiscovered Is A Strong Word

None of these towns is hiding. The line at The Cove in Leland proves that much. The Saturday market in Port Austin is all regulars. A good weekend here is a short drive and a low bar. Take the Madeline Island ferry one Saturday. Swim at Westcott Beach the next. The fun is knowing exactly what these places are and wanting to go back anyway.