Little Traverse Bay is a small bay, 170 feet (55 m) deep, off

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that of ...

in the northern area of the

Lower Peninsula of Michigan The Lower Peninsula of Michigan – also known as Lower Michigan – is the larger, southern and less elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; the other being the Upper Peninsula, which is separated by the S ...

. The cities of

Harbor Springs Harbor Springs is a city and resort community in Emmet County, Michigan. The population was 1,194 in the 2010 census. Harbor Springs is in a sheltered bay on the north shore of the Little Traverse Bay on Lake Michigan. The Little Traverse Ligh ...

and Petoskey are located on this bay. Little Traverse Bay From Bay View Michigan

Harbor Springs originated as ''L'arbre de Croche,'' a French

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...

mission village to serve the

Odawa people The Odawa (also Ottawa or Odaawaa ), said to mean "traders", are an Indigenous American ethnic group who primarily inhabit land in the Eastern Woodlands region, commonly known as the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. They h ...

bands in the area. After the British took over the territory, the village was renamed in English. The federally recognized

Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians The Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians (LTBBOI, oj, Waganakising Odawa) is a federally recognized Native American tribe of Odawa. A large percentage of the more than 4000 tribal members continue to reside within the tribe's traditional ...

have their headquarters here. They have land here, and additional land and a gaming casino in Petoskey. The Little Traverse Light marks the entrance at Harbor Springs to the smaller harbor within the bay. After the Odawa bands in northern Michigan were persuaded to cede considerable lands to the United States, the Little Traverse Bay region was developed by Illinois land developers and resort founders, such as lawyers Henry Stryker III and Henry Brigham McClure, and the Capps family of

Jacksonville, Illinois Jacksonville is a city in Morgan County, Illinois, Morgan County, Illinois, United States. The population was 19,446 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Morgan County. It is home to Illinois College, Illinois School for the Deaf, and the ...

and woolen mills fame. The Stryker, Capps, and McClure families were interconnected with the

Jacob Bunn :''This article concerns John Whitfield Bunn, Jacob Bunn, and the entrepreneurs who were interconnected with the Bunn brothers through association or familial and genealogical connection.'' John Whitfield Bunn (June 21, 1831 – June 7, 1920)Ill ...

industrial dynasty of Chicago and

Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat and largest city of Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state's seventh most-populous city, the second largest o ...

. The bay has also been used as a refuge by Great Lakes freighters during severe weather.

Recreation

The bay has significant publicly accessible parkland on the waterfront, including in the cities of Petoskey and Harbor Springs, and in Petoskey State Park. Little Traverse Bay is popular during the summer for

boating Boating is the leisurely activity of travelling by boat, or the recreational use of a boat whether Motorboat, powerboats, Sailing, sailboats, or man-powered vessels (such as rowing and paddle boats), focused on the travel itself, as well as sp ...

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cour ...

and

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

by the numerous vacation communities on the bay, including Bay View,

Wequetonsing Little Traverse Township is a civil township of Emmet County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,380 at the 2010 census. Communities * Conway is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in the township, on the w ...

, and Harbor Point. Many of these communities also provide sailing and swimming lessons. The bay is the location of the annual Ugotta Regatta, hosted by the Little Traverse Yacht Club in Harbor Springs. Participants are often boat owners and crews who have sailed in the

Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac The Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac is a annual yacht race starting in Lake Michigan off Chicago, Illinois, and ending in Lake Huron off Mackinac Island, Michigan. It is hosted and managed by the Chicago Yacht Club. The "Mac" (as it is know ...

and

Port Huron to Mackinac Boat Race The Bayview Mackinac Boat Race is run by the Bayview Yacht Club of Detroit, Michigan. It is one of the longest fresh-water races in the world with over two hundred boats entering the race each year. There have been at least six changes to the cou ...

, each held on one of the two weekends before.

References

{{Authority control Bodies of water of Charlevoix County, Michigan Bodies of water of Emmet County, Michigan Bays of Michigan Bays of Lake Michigan