Last week we started on our journey to vacation destinations along the coast of Lake Michigan, and today we’re continuing with a look at New Buffalo, Michigan.
The billboards on the road headed into Michigan advertise vacation communities with names culled from words like “Harbor,” “Lake,” “Dunes” and “Shore.” As we got off the highway in New Buffalo, though, every vehicle seemed to be turning away from the lake. We followed a winding stream of cars through acres of otherwise unspoiled forest until we finally spilled out into an oceanic parking lot with the monolithic Four Winds Casino Resort looming over it. The resort, which opened the first week in August, is expected to draw more than four million visitors a year to the area.
“New Buffalo is going through a tremendous change. I think the fact that there is a very high-end resort in the vicinity is going to make things more valuable,” said Karen Conner, whose Esperanza Development Group is building the aptly named Walden – 22 secluded cottages for city folk seeking some deliberate quiet.
Many of the town’s new developments trade on Chicagoan’s desire for a return to nature. Camp Buffalo Cottages, with 19 homes priced from the $330s to the $420s, is surrounded by woods, and River Bluff’s 16 home sites and million-dollar houses neighbor a 35-acre nature conservancy.
Downtown New Buffalo was hopping. For-sale banners draped rows of sparkling new homes whose bright colors were a sharp departure from Chicago’s ubiquitous dark brick. Mothers with small children, groups of shirtless boys and bikini-clad girls, and older folks clutching lawn chairs all rolled languidly down Whittaker Street on a pilgrimage toward the water. Others sat on park benches outside the restaurants, clothing stores, galleries, spas and wine shops that lined their path.
There’s one ice cream shop for every person in town.
On wide-open New Buffalo Beach, little girls with vast inflatable lobsters plied the gentle waves and big brothers buried little brothers up to their necks in the sand. It’s a world away from the dense sea of humanity that is Chicago’s North Avenue Beach, where finding and preserving a small strip of the sand is a Darwinian experience.
Yes, New Buffalo has its Dairy Queen and Pizza Hut and Wendy’s, but it also has its Kite’s Kitchen and Ozzie’s Eatery and Pierre Anne Creperie. We enjoyed a simple steak sandwich at Bentwood Tavern, located inside Marina Grand Resort, where hotel condos are being sold from the $300s. Our waiter, 21-year-old David Uremovich, said it’s mostly locals around town on Mondays through Wednesdays. “Thursday through Sunday,” he said, “it’s all Illinois plates.”
The check came with a handbill inviting us to “own paradise” at the Marina Grand.
“You start releasing yourself as you’re driving here,” said Camp Buffalo sales agent Diane Pyshos. “Your body literally goes through a change – you start relaxing right away.”
We couldn’t relax for too long, though, because we still had a lot to see. Fancying a fresh peach or some of the region’s famous blueberries, we stopped by a small farm stand on the road out of town. We tried to give our money to the woman picking through the produce, but she was not the one in charge. She pointed to a small metal box on the cart: it was on the honor system.