unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
and
census-designated place
A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.
CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...
Michigan
Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
. The population of the CDP was 485 at the 2020 census. The community is located within Bay Township on northeastern shores of
Lake Charlevoix
Lake Charlevoix ( ) is a lake in Charlevoix County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the third largest inland lake in the state with a surface area of over and of shoreline. The maximum depth in the main basin is and in the south arm, .
T ...
.
History
The area was settled as early as 1876 by pioneer settled Samuel Horton in 1876 as a lumbering community. Located along Pine Lake (now known as
Lake Charlevoix
Lake Charlevoix ( ) is a lake in Charlevoix County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the third largest inland lake in the state with a surface area of over and of shoreline. The maximum depth in the main basin is and in the south arm, .
T ...
), the community was originally spelled as Horton's Bay when a post office opened on February 27, 1879 with Alonzo Stroud serving as the first postmaster. The name was shortened to Horton Bay on October 12, 1894. The post office operated until January 15, 1910.
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...
frequently visited Horton Bay to camp and fish, and the area is the setting for several of his famous ''
The Nick Adams Stories
''The Nick Adams Stories'' is a volume of short stories written by Ernest Hemingway published in 1972, a decade after the author's death. In the volume, all the stories featuring Nick Adams, published in various collections during Hemingway's ...
''. Hemingway was married here in 1921.
Horton Bay was designated as a Michigan State Historic Site on November 12, 1975. The district includes several properties that are also listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
: Horton Bay General Store, Horton Bay School, and Red Fox Inn (Horton Bay House).
The community of Horton Bay was listed as a newly-organized census-designated place for the 2010 census, meaning it now has officially defined boundaries and population statistics for the first time.
Geography
According to the
U.S. Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...
, the Horton Bay CDP has a total area of , of which is land and (21.88%) is water.
Horton Bay is located along the northeastern coastline of
Lake Charlevoix
Lake Charlevoix ( ) is a lake in Charlevoix County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the third largest inland lake in the state with a surface area of over and of shoreline. The maximum depth in the main basin is and in the south arm, .
T ...
.
Major highways
* is a county-designated highway that runs through the community near the shores of Lake Charlevoix.
* is a county-designated highway that runs south into the community and ends at C-56.