Idlewild, Michigan, the once booming resort for black vacationers, is a ghost of its former self. Now a small colony of summer homes clustered around a small lake, it has no nightclubs, taverns, restaurants, or even hot dog or barbecue joints to give a taste of its past glories.
Biking also is good, since traffic is light and there are lakes, woodlands, and dunes galore to break up the flat, monotonous stretches of farmland. Cyclists particularly recommend Lakeshore Road from Ludington south to Pentwater; Road B15, along the lake south of Pentwater; and a stretch of Highway 116 north of Ludington into Ludington State Park. Bikers also have their own linear state park–a 22-mile bike trail from Hart, just southeast of Pentwater on the Pentwater River, to Montague, just north of Muskegon on U.S. 31. It follows the old Chesapeake & Ohio Railway right-of-way and costs $2 per adult and $5 per family; tickets are available at stores along the route.
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Moving upscale a bit, one of the classiest places to lodge (and eat) is the Historic Nickerson Inn (616-869-6731). A cozy, high-quality rehabbed country inn in Pentwater, it has ten rooms ($75 to $95), two large suites with whirlpools ($150), and some of the best food in the region. Rooms overlook the dunes and Lake Michigan or Pentwater Lake. Using all fresh ingredients, the Nickerson offers a sumptuous Sunday brunch as well as hearty lunches and dinners that attract locals–including a former state governor who lives nearby. The food, overseen by a chef who’s a recent refugee from Chicago, is several notches better than the standard prime-rib and baked-potato joints that dominate the area’s “fine dining” scene.
If you prefer trout fishing try heading to the Pere Marquette River south of Baldwin. Steelhead and salmon also can be caught there. Information about public access points along M-37 and other spots can be had from national forest rangers at the Baldwin office, 650 N. Michigan (616-745-4631).
Shrine of the Pines is a beautiful hand-built log cabin hunting lodge filled with one-of-a-kind furniture hand-carved by Raymond Overholzer, a fishing and hunting guide who was angry about the loggers who clear-cut the local virgin pine forests in the 19th century. Overholzer obsessively transformed many of the stumps and roots left behind into huge tables, chairs, and beds that he carved, joined, and finished with all natural ingredients. Even the glue was of his own recipe, and not one nail nor one ounce of varnish was used, the finish coming from rubbing the wood with deer pelts. Overholzer married his grade-school teacher but died shortly after finishing the cabin and its furniture–several years before she did. You’ll find his shrine on M-37 two miles south of Baldwin (616-745-7892). Open daily through November 1. Admission is $2.50 for adults, $1 for kids.
