The Area

From the porch to the lake, and on into town.

Saltwater & Pines sits on Lakeshore Drive in Fennville, Michigan, between the Lake Michigan beaches and the orchards of the fruit belt, with Pier Cove down the road and Saugatuck, Douglas and the Fennville wineries close by. Here is what is around it, starting at the front door.

Out the front door

Lakeshore Drive

Lakeshore Drive is a quiet road under the trees along the top of the bluff, and the house sits on the wooded side of it.

Down the road

The beach at Pier Cove

Pier Cove is a small beach of sand and stones where a creek runs into the lake. People walk the waterline looking for beach glass and lightning stones, and the sun sets straight into the water.

The pines along the road are second growth: this shore was logged and the timber shipped out of Pier Cove to Chicago, and a Chicago landscape gardener spent the 1890s planting the dunes back.

The beach at Pier Cove at sunset — Sunset from the sand at Pier Cove

Up the shore

Beaches below the dunes

North of the house the shore is long sand beach below wooded dunes. At Saugatuck Dunes State Park the trail runs through the trees and comes out on open beach.

The beach below the wooded bluff at Saugatuck Dunes State Park, with people along the water — The beach below the dunes at Saugatuck Dunes State Park

In town

Saugatuck and Douglas

Saugatuck has the galleries on Butler Street, boats on the river, the hand-cranked chain ferry across to the stairs up Mount Baldhead, and Oval Beach on the far side of the dune. Douglas is the quieter town across the bridge.

Dinner in town is Coast 236 or Bowdie’s for a night out, The Butler for perch on the water, or Everyday People in Douglas.

The hand-cranked Saugatuck chain ferry at its landing on the Kalamazoo River — The chain ferry across the Kalamazoo River

Saugatuck from the air: the harbor, the town, and Lake Michigan beyond the dunes — Saugatuck, the harbor and the lake

Inland, through the orchards

Fennville and the wineries

Inland, the roads run through orchards to the tasting rooms at Fenn Valley and Modales, to Crane’s Pie Pantry for cider and pie, and on to downtown Fennville.

Main Street in downtown Fennville during the Goose Festival, seen from above — Main Street in downtown Fennville

Through the year

The seasons

Summer The pool is open and the sun sets late over the lake.
September The lake is at its warmest and the beaches are quiet.
October The leaves turn along the shore and the orchards are at harvest.
Winter The fireplace is the center of the house, and the restaurants in town are quiet.

A path through the woods in fall, the leaves gold and the sun low — October in the woods along the shore

After dark

There are no streetlights on Lakeshore Drive, so on a clear night the sky over the lake is full of stars.

Check dates See the house