Grand Traverse Bay Bottomland Preserve

Mission Point Light is a lighthouse located in Michigan at the end of Old Mission Point, a peninsula jutting into Grand Traverse Bay 17 miles (27 km) north of Traverse City. It was built in 1870 as an exact copy of the Mama Juda Light (now destroyed), which was built on the Detroit River in 1866. The foundation is natural and emplaced. The wooden structure is painted white with black trim. The square tower is attached to a dwelling. A fixed white Fifth Order Fresnel lens was installed. The building was only one and a half stories tall. However, its placement on a sand bank 14 feet above the lake's surface created a lens focal plane of 47 feet (14 m). It was visible from 13 miles (21 km) at sea. It has been an ongoing struggle to maintain the dune and protect it and the lighthouse from erosion. The light served to warn mariners about the shoals off the point for 63 years. It was a working lighthouse from 1870 to 1933, when it was decommissioned. However, new techniques in offshore construction and the automation of lighthouse illumination made it possible to build a navigation aid on the shoal itself. In 1938, work was completed for the new stationary buoy light in 19 feet (5.8 m) of water, about 2 miles (3.2 km) northwest of Mission Point. The light runs on batteries. It is on a 36-foot (11 m) tall tower, and its focal plane of 52 feet (16 m) makes it visible for 13 miles (21 km). It has a 30-second dwell time between flashes, in order to conserve power. It is still maintained by the Coast Guard today and only shines North. Famously, the lighthouse stands a few hundred yards south of the 45th parallel north, halfway between the North Pole and the Equator. It was deactivated in 1933 and purchased by the State of Michigan. There are a pair of signs that denote its location on the parallel, one of 29 places in the U.S. with such signs.

Old Mission is an unincorporated community in Grand Traverse County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The community is located within Peninsula Township, and is located about 2 miles (3.2 km) south of the tip of the Old Mission Peninsula, along the shore of the East Arm of Grand Traverse Bay. As an unincorporated community, Old Mission has no legally defined boundaries or population statistics of its own. Old Mission is one of the oldest communities in Northern Michigan, and is the oldest permanent settlement in the Grand Traverse Bay region, founded in 1839 by Presbyterian missionary Peter Dougherty. The Old Mission Peninsula today is known largely for its cherry crop, which is also attributed to Dougherty.

The Old Mission Inn, previously known as Hedden Hall or the Porter Hotel, is an inn located at 18599 Old Mission Road near Traverse City, Michigan. It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1980 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

The Dougherty Mission House is a house located at 18459 Mission Road in Peninsula Township, Michigan. It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1956 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011. The house was certainly one of the first frame buildings constructed in Grand Traverse County, and is thought to be the first post and beam house constructed in Michigan's lower peninsula north of Grand Rapids.

Grove Hill New Mission Church (also known as Omena Presbyterian Church) is a historic church located at 5098 North West Bay Shore (M-22) in Omena, Michigan. It was constructed in 1858, designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1971, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

Bellow Island, also known as Gull Island, is an island in the Grand Traverse Bay, a bay of Lake Michigan, located in Leelanau Township, Leelanau County, Michigan.Bellow Island lies a little over a mile off the coast of Leelanau Peninsula in Northport Bay. The island is preserved as a sanctuary for herring gulls. A deteriorating cottage on south side is the only structure on the island.

The Omena Historic District is a historic district located along M-22 from Tatch Road to North Omena Point Road in Omena, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017.

Chateau Chantal is a winery located on the Old Mission Peninsula, only a few miles north of Traverse City, in Grand Traverse County, Michigan, United States. The chateau sits atop one of the highest points on the Old Mission Peninsula and has views of both East and West arms of Grand Traverse Bay. The winery is a European style chateau on a 64-acre (26 ha) estate. Chantal is in an official American Viticultural Area, one of five in Michigan, a state that specializes in vinifera, hybrid and native grape varieties. The Chateau has a tasting room, an eleven-room bed and breakfast, and a hospitality room where cooking classes and Jazz at Sunset are hosted.

Omena ( oh-MEE-nə) is a small unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Leelanau Township of Leelanau County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 295. Overlooking Omena Bay, on the western side of Grand Traverse Bay, Omena is home to wineries and farms including a thriving organic farming movement that includes cherries and hops. The area has several wineries featuring some of the region's cherry and grape crop, for which the Grand Traverse and Leelanau areas are known. The nearest substantial city is Traverse City, 23 miles (37 km) to the south.

The Torchport Airport, also known as the Torchport Airpark, (FAA LID: 59M) is a privately owned, public use airport located 3 miles south of Eastport, Michigan. It is at an elevation of 640 ft (195 m). The airport is located on Torch Lake between Charlevoix and Traverse City.

Torch Lake Township is a civil township of Antrim County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Located in the Northern Lower Peninsula, the township comprises an isthmus between the eponymous Torch Lake and Grand Traverse Bay, a bay of Lake Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the township population was 1,212, a slight increase from 1,194 at the 2010 census.

Peshawbestown ( PSHAW-bə-town) is an unincorporated community in Suttons Bay Township of Leelanau in the U.S. state of Michigan. In historical documents, the name is spelled variously as Peshabetown, Peshabatown, Pshawbatown, Preshabestown. The community is on M-22 about 10 miles (16 km) south of Northport, 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Suttons Bay, and about 20 miles (32 km) north of Traverse City. It is on the east side of the Leelanau Peninsula on the western shore of the Grand Traverse Bay. Peshawbestown occupies about 12.5 acres (51,000 m2) of the federally recognized Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians reservation. The primary economic base of the community is tourism, with the main feature being the Leelanau Sands Casino. Other notable feature include the historic Kateri Tekakwitha Catholic Church, dedicated to the first Native American saint in the Roman Catholic Church, who was canonized in 2012. She was a Mohawk woman who converted to Catholicism in New York in the French colonial period, later moving to Kahnawake near Montreal. The tribe holds the annual Peshawbestown Pow-Wow, which takes place each August with native foods, tribal art, and dancing.