Glen Haven’s Sleeping Bear Inn will be restored & reopened

Glen Haven … horsetail clouds kinda day by Ken Scott Photography

mLive reports that the historic Sleeping Bear Inn of Glen Haven will be restored with an eye towards once again hosting guests in Summer of 2022:

Park officials today announced the National Park Service’s intent to lease the historic Sleeping Bear Inn and Garage in Glen Haven to the nonprofit Balancing Environment and Rehabilitation, known as BEAR, for restoration into a premier B&B.

Built around 1865, the inn initially offered lodging for business travelers and local workers before evolving into a tourist hotel. A second-floor apartment in the storied inn even briefly housed D.H. Day, namesake for one of Sleeping Bear’s campgrounds and the original owner of the iconic white barn visible from the park’s Dune Climb. The inn has been closed since the mid-1970s; in the meantime, its two-story 1920s-built garage has been serving as storage for the park.

“We have been looking for someone willing to invest in the Inn, and we feel we have an excellent match with BEAR,” said Superintendent Scott Tucker in a release. “The lease will preserve the two buildings and allow greater visitor experience in the historic Glen Haven Village.”

According to the release, BEAR will need to make substantial investments to rehabilitate the buildings and bring them up to code. The organization also will work closely with the State Historic Preservation Office and the National Lakeshore for inn operations.

Chief Ranger Phil Akers, who has been working to find a leasee for the historic site for nearly a decade, said the plan is for the inn to have seven second-floor guest rooms and one ADA-accessible first-floor guest room. The second story of the garage will be converted into two guest suites, he said.

Follow their progress at sleepingbearinn.org! Ken took this photo back in 2018. See more in his Glen Haven album on Flickr & for sure follow Ken Scott Photography on Facebook or his website for more!