Conway, MI

Conway is an unincorporated community and census-designated place at the western end of Crooked Lake in Emmet County, Michigan. Most of the CDP lies in Little Traverse Township, with a portion extending south into Bear Creek Township. U.S. Route 31 passes through, putting Conway about six miles northeast of Petoskey and five miles southwest of Alanson. The lake is part of the Inland Waterway, whose connected rivers and lakes lead toward Lake Huron.

Conway grew with the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad, whose depot brought visitors and supplies to the lakeside community. Older accounts called the place Crooked Lake, a name that still describes the shoreline and the waterway around it. The 2020 census counted 338 residents. Conway’s small map is easy to read: highway on one side, Crooked Lake on the other, wooded and rural roads behind it, and a summer population that gathers around the water. It has the feel of a northern Michigan crossroads shaped equally by rail travel, lake travel, and the larger resort country around Petoskey.