TRAVERSE CITY - DISCOVER ITS HISTORY
 There's more to Traverse City than its scenic and
recreational qualities. It has a brief but dramatic past a story in which
Native Americans and missionaries, lumberjacks and fur traders, fishermen and
farmers all played important roles. Thanks in large part to persistent questions
from tourists; local residents have begun to share that past.
"Interest in our historic sites has grown considerably in
the last few years," said Dan Truckey, director of the Grand Traverse Heritage
Center, a historical and cultural museum headquartered in the city's 1903
Carnegie Library building. "Recreation is still the main thing that brings
people to Traverse City. But once they have a chance to look around, a lot of
them want to know more about the community and its history. They just don't
always know where to find the resources."
Volunteers from the Heritage Center conduct regular
90-minute walking tours highlighting many of the city's historical sights. The
summer tours begin at the Heritage Center on Sixth Street and are held on
Tuesday and Saturday at 1 p.m. from June to September.
 Reminders of the past are everywhere along this remote
coast: lighthouses, mission churches, taverns, Victorian cottages and estates of
19 th century lumber barons. It's a remarkable historical legacy, says Truckey,
since the Traverse City area was one of the last places in America to be
settled.
Indian hunters and French traders were the first people to
visit the area, and it was they who gave the region its name La Grand
Traverse, because of the "long crossing" they had to make by canoe across the
mouth of the bay. But they weren't interested in staying; even the area's Ottawa
and Chippewa people didn't arrive there until the early 18 th century, and it
wasn't until 1839 that the Rev. Peter Dougherty established the area's first
permanent settlement, an Indian mission at the tip of the Old Mission peninsula.
 The
modern-day village of Old Mission still occupies Dougherty's site: a place where
many of the original mission structures, are still standing and in use. Three
miles to the north is the quaint Old Mission Lighthouse, built in 1870 to warn
ships away from the rocky shoals of Old Mission Point.
By 1847 a small but growing community was forming on the
banks of the nearby Boardman River. In 1852 the little sawmill town was
christened Traverse City -- but until the first road through the forest was
built in 1864 it remained a remote outpost, accessible only by water.
 The
Boardman Neighborhood along Boardman Avenue and Washington Street preserves some
of Traverse City's oldest homes, many in the Queen Anne style, while the
turn-of-the-century mansions of Sixth Street (known as "Silk Stocking Row")
include the 32-room house built by Traverse City founder Perry Hannah in 1893.
 After
decades of neglect, the nearby Front Street shopping district has been
extensively restored. Shops, restaurants and galleries have made creative use of
the Victorian buildings they occupy. One landmark, the 1891 City Opera House,
was recently reopened.
 The city's west side known at various times as Baghdad,
Little Bohemia or Slabtown was home to mill workers and woodcarvers, including
a community of Bohemian immigrants who built cottages for themselves out of
scraps from the sawmills. Many of their homes are still standing, and so is
Sleder's Family Tavern, a 123-year-old social club.
In 1885, the city was designated as the site of the
Northern Michigan Asylum, a state institution whose founders believed mental
illness could best be treated by a combination of healthy food, exercise and
beautiful natural surroundings. The asylum became one of the city's major
employers and eventually housed a population several times larger than that of
the town itself.
The 480-acre site of the former hospital now known as the
Grand Traverse Commons -- is being redeveloped into a "village" of shops,
restaurants, apartments and galleries.
 Developers
are preserving both the Italianate century buildings that once housed staff and
patients, while its wooded campus is used by hikers and cyclists.
"There's a great deal to see and a lot of places to
explore," says retired teacher Ann Hoopfer, one of several guides who conduct
groups on the city history tours. "You just have to know where to look."
Tickets for the Heritage Center's summer walking tours are
$10 for adults and $5 per student; children 12 and under are free. Reservations
are recommended, since tours are limited to 15 people. For more information or
to make a reservation, call (231) 995-0313.
Maps, descriptions and information about other historical
sites can be obtained by contacting the Traverse City Convention & Visitors
Bureau at 1-800-TRAVERSE or on line at
www.VisitTraverseCity.com
Edited by Wendy J Betts
Photo Credit: Traverse City Convention & Visitors Bureau
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