An Eater’s Guide to Fall Color in Northern Michigan

By Stacey Brugeman, Eater Detoit, September 29, 2023

Long beloved for empty beaches flanked by white pines, sandstone cliffs cascading into Great Lakes waters, and tunnels upon tunnels of trees, here are five routes north of the 45th parallel where the food is as exciting as the changing leaves.

It used to be that Northern Michigan — the term used to describe the northernmost section of the Great Lakes State’s Lower Peninsula as well as all of its Upper Peninsula — was a summertime escape known only to Midwesterners. At the turn of the last century, city folk from Cincinnati, Fort Wayne, Chicago, or Detroit would travel by steamer, train, or Model T to seasonal cabins perched alongside small inland lakes and vast Great Lakes alike. For generations, these “resorters,” as they were called, had this gorgeous stretch of country all to themselves. Unless one had a college roommate who was from this special part of the world or a coworker who got married here, this remote region has been a relatively low-traffic summertime playground for those in the know, and the locals and Natives who came long before them.

Gilcrest Farm Winery

Also new on the scene is Gilcrest Farm Winery, which just opened a well-appointed Suttons Bay tasting room in August 2023. Oenophiles could take a page from the bachelorette types and build an entire trip around visiting Leelanau County’s best tasting rooms, but those sticking closest to M-22 should at least be sure to add this new entrant to their list of stops. Order the chardonnay flight, where you can taste one of “the big six” three different ways — oaked, unoaked, and sparkling.

Stacey Brugeman is a Leelanau County-based food and travel writer and editor. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Food & Wine, Saveur, Travel + Leisure, Midwest Living, and Denver’s 5280, where she served as Restaurant Critic.

April Uhlir