This cache is part of the Emmet County History Quest Geo-Trail. When discovering the historic places in Emmet County as you travel from cache to cache, you will need to answer a specific question on your passport. Information and the passport can be downloaded from the Emmet County web site http://www.emmetcounty.org/geocache/
Once you have completed 20 of the caches in this tour, take your passport to Emmet County Building, Suite 178 or mail the passport to Beth Piehl, Emmet County Building, Suite 178, 200 Division St., Petoskey, MI 49770 to receive a collectable souvenir tag for this series.
In September 1875, a group of Michigan Methodists met to organize a Camp Meeting location, a popular form of religious gathering at that time, "for intellectual and scientific culture and the promotion of the cause of religion and morality." They chose Bay View as the site because of its summer climate, its beautiful location on the shores of Little Traverse Bay, and its accessibility by railroad and lake steamer.
The following year ground was cleared and tents put up to house the several hundred people who came for six days of religious talks and sermons delivered from the "preaching stand," which was the first building erected on the grounds. This building is now a part of the Bay View Historical Museum.
By 1877, streets, parks, and public areas had been platted and twenty simple cottages had been built. Ten years later there were 125 cottages, a hotel and a chapel. The religious program expanded and grew into a Summer Assembly of eight weeks. Chautauqua-type literary and scientific circles were formed.
Today, the community is comprised of more than 440 cottages and over 30 public buildings. The residency period for cottagers is May through October.
Bay View is still, as the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad in 1882 said in its Resorts of Northern Michigan, "Simply a collection of grand, good people of all creeds, who, because of common consent and under democratic government, flock here in the summer to renew their friendships and help each other to all other enjoyments possible."