The Michigan Enclave Where You Need Four References to Get a Summer Cottage

The phrase “summering in Michigan” likely brings to mind the car-free charm of Mackinac Island or the beaches of Traverse City. But there is another, lesser-known retreat tucked away along the state’s shoreline—one where cottages can be used only six full months of the year and buying one requires four reference letters.

That place is the Bay View Association, a roughly 340-acre private community on Lake Michigan’s Little Traverse Bay, just outside the city of Petoskey. Here, Victorian-era cottages dot tree-lined streets, and a summer calendar is packed with activities for adults and children. 

It is no small feat to buy a home in Bay View, which opens in late April and closes in early November. Home buyers are required to be members before purchasing, which involves references, interviews and until 2019, a letter from a minister. And finding a suitable cottage can be a lengthy process. There are around 440 cottages in Bay View, almost all of which are Victorians built between 1875 and 1900, according to Mary McCarthy, a local real-estate agent. Many stay within families for generations, and when they do become available, they are often sold through word-of-mouth.

The median sale price in Bay View reached $346,940 in 2025—up roughly 76% from $197,500 in 2021, according to McCarthy. This surge stems partly from owners holding on to their cottages longer, real-estate agents said, alongside price hikes in the broader Petoskey area. In February, Petoskey’s median listing price topped $1 million for the first time, according to Realtor.com senior economist Anthony Smith, who attributed the jump to a surge in new construction and the area’s relative affordability compared with other markets in the Great Lakes region.

On Thursday mornings in the summer, Bay View cottage owner Annie Koch attends the Morning Council Women’s Club, which hosts events such as ice cream socials. In the evenings, she attends lectures and concerts. She’s seen cover bands of Fleetwood Mac and Chicago at a community auditorium.

Annie and her husband, Matthew Koch, have two teenage daughters, who begin their mornings as camp counselors. They return home around noon for lunch, and then they are off to teach tennis. At night, they hang out with their friends on cottage porches or by the community’s waterfront. “I always say the kids are living their best ‘80s summer,” said Annie.

That lifestyle also helps keep demand for cottages high.

“When my husband and I got married, we didn’t know a lot about what the future would hold for us, but the one thing we did know was that we wanted a cottage in Bay View,” said Elizabeth Nelson, Bay View’s archivist and a local real-estate agent, whose husband, Paul Nelson, grew up in Petoskey. In 2005, they spent about $300,000 buying and moving a circa-1900 cottage onto another lot in the community.

A 150-Year History

Bay View was founded in the 1870s by Methodist ministers as a campground for religious retreats. In 1886, the community adopted the Chautauqua movement, expanding its mission to include educational and cultural programming. 

Today, Bay View is a National Historic Landmark, requiring strict oversight of any building or renovation in the community. Since many of its Victorian cottages lack insulation and the community has fragile infrastructure, Bay View shuts down during the winter months.

Emily Soelter, 77, and her sister Ginny Gibson, 72, own the Bay View cottage their great-grandfather built around 1880. When their grandchildren come to spend the summer, “it’s a packed house,” she said.

Soelter, who lives full-time in Minnesota, said the cottage has been expanded over the years. “In the first picture we have, there is no kitchen,” she said. “The women all cooked in the woods.”

Bay View cottages are privately owned, but the land is owned by the association, which mandates that buyers be members. The membership process requires reference letters from nonfamily members: at least two from current residents (excluding the sellers) and at least one from someone outside the community. Applicants then interview with the membership committee before their applications are approved. The process can take up to nine weeks, according to Bay View Executive Director Megan DeWindt, and approvals only take place during the summer.

The process is intended to ensure incoming members are committed to the community’s mission and willing to partake in community service and events, DeWindt said. Those who don’t own cottages can rent in Bay View, which doesn’t require a membership.

Dennis and Merritt DeLano Taylor spent four years searching for a Bay View cottage for their family of four.

Dennis, 54, works in health insurance, and Merritt, 56, is a professor. Based in Grand Rapids, the couple discovered Bay View while driving through Northern Michigan in 2015, and began renting there. Toward the end of Bay View’s 2025 season, they heard that a family was trying to sell their four-bedroom cottage quickly, at a price of $375,000. They dropped everything and went to check out the place, making an offer the next day. “You have to really hustle,” Dennis said.

Because Dennis had already become a Bay View member, the transaction moved quickly. They purchased the cottage in October for $325,000.

Annual fees for cottage owners range from $7,000 to $10,000 and cover expenses such as real-estate taxes, lot rent, water utilities, and a Chautauqua fee.

Changing requirements

The community also has a deep spiritual heritage. With roots in the Christian faith, it offers weekly worship services, Sunday school, Bible studies and vespers concerts. DeWindt noted that there are also interfaith lectures and classes on other religions.

In the 1940s, membership was restricted to white Christians. While the racial requirement was removed in the 1950s, prospective members still needed a Christian minister’s reference until 2019. The association eliminated that requirement following a 2017 lawsuit by a group of homeowners, who argued that it violated the federal Fair Housing Act. The parties settled in mediation, avoiding a trial.

At the heart of the legal battle was concern among members that their children, who weren’t as religious, wouldn’t be able to inherit their cottages, according to Jon Chism, a former Bay View board president. Those who fought the change, meanwhile, wanted to preserve Bay View’s traditional heritage and culture, he said.

While there was division during the years of the lawsuit, Chism said the issue within the community has been laid to rest. “It is like in your own personal family, where you have an argument about something, you really disagree, you really duke it out for a little bit, and once you resolve it, it just kind of goes away,” he said.

Soelter, a practicing Christian, said she was mostly in favor of the rule change because some people who grew up in Bay View aren’t religious. But she also understood the perspective of those who worried about the erasure of the community’s Methodist heritage. These days, she doesn’t hear many rumblings about the rule change. “I think it’s settled,” she said.

Elizabeth Nelson said she had anticipated a surge of cottages hitting the market from members who protested the decision, but the uptick never came. 

When asked how many non-Christians are members today, DeWindt said the community doesn’t track its members’ religious affiliations.

Dennis and Merritt, who are Christian, said the community has felt welcoming to diversity and they haven’t felt discriminated against as a same-sex couple.

“One of the things that we love so much about Bay View is that we’ve really felt accepted,” said Dennis.

During the summer program, Dennis and Merritt, along with several other families, host a post-camp “lunch bunch” for their kids and friends. At the end of July, “we dialed it up with mini sodas,” said Dennis.

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