travel
RETRO ESCAPES by LUCINDA HAHN
These hotels are rocking vintage vacation vibes.
top photo courtesy of Birch Lodge // inset photo courtesy of Harbor Springs Area Historical Society
E
ver since the glaciers checked out, leaving behind our glorious lakes, travelers have been checking in Up Motel at Birch Lodge North—beckoned first by early rustic camps, then seasonal shoreside resorts and turn-of-the-20th-century glam hotels. Today, than one flick of the light switch might be required to start nostalgia-seekers can tap into the romance of bygone eras the flame, “That’s still a lot easier,” management points out, at these three retro lodgings, which whisk guests back in “than it was to gather firewood in 1894.” (We’ll say!) Owned time while maintaining modern touches we love. by the Brown family for three generations, the hotel’s rooms feature whimsical Northern Michigan beach-scapes painted ANCHOR INN, TRAVERSE CITY by the owner’s mother. Design-minded Alyssa Brittain envisioned a “Nordic Cottage” style for the interiors of this 1940s getaway, BIRCH LODGE, TROUT LAKE which she and her husband purchased in 2021. Out went Nestled amid a copse of hardwoods, this three-story inn the dated quilts and bedskirts, in came a painstaking renhas evolved from a 1912 sanitarium—its original raison ovation that transformed the eight cottages and six motel d’être—into the most gracious of lodgings, a place to rooms into a celebration of minimalist chic. Sunlight breathe in the beauty of the Upper Peninsula. Eight bedstreams onto crisp-white walls, while the original dark rooms embody the pared-back beauty of simpler times wood trim and hardwood with period-inspired classics floors synch with salvaged such as iron beds and hisfinds—think nautical sconces torical black-and-white and antique dressers—to fishing photos. Downstairs, provide the lake-cottage vibe the iconic Birch Bar is a of our dreams. This spring master class in Northwoods saw the addition of a threekitsch, featuring bar stools bedroom Lakeside House cut from tree trunks and a with its bead-boarded birch-log back bar complete kitchen, vintage light fixtures with a vintage Busch beer and cozy breakfast nook sign and a stein-full of promising to give you all the pheasant tailfeathers. Fancy nostalgic feels. a different era? Try the Colonial Inn property ’s eight-room COLONIAL INN, Motel at Birch Lodge, a HARBOR SPRINGS portal to the 1950s with its mid-century modern furniBuilt back when captains of industry brokered deals on ture, wall-to-wall carpeting and wood paneling that the verandas of the three-story Harbor Springs summer transport visitors back to childhood road trips of decades “cottages,” this 129-year-old hotel epitomizes old-millenpast. With each room featuring a picture window looking nium elegance, starting with its expansive porch, perfect out onto Trout Lake—plus high-speed WiFi—you could for sipping a gimlet in the Lake Michigan breeze. The be forgiven for choosing to ditch tomorrow’s itinerary high-ceilinged lobby décor is reminiscent of Mackinac and stay awhile. Island’s Grand Hotel, and amid the manicured grounds, the kidney-shaped swimming pool is a throwback to glamLucinda Hahn traveled the globe as an award-winning our circa 1955. Each room’s gas fireplace helps ignite that journalist, living in four countries before settling in her lakeside ambience, and while the building’s age means more favorite place, the Leelanau Peninsula, in 2020. M AY 2 0 2 3
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