Glen Arbor, MI

Glen Arbor is a Leelanau County census-designated place on the isthmus between Glen Lake and Lake Michigan, beside Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The name combines Glen Lake with the grapevines that early settlers saw climbing the trees. Lumberman D.H. Day arrived in 1886, built a sawmill on the Crystal River, and developed nearby Glen Haven, helping Glen Arbor grow. Today the Crystal River threads through the community toward Lake Michigan. Glen Arbor is a northern Michigan place where lake, river, dunes, and timber history meet on one narrow piece of shoreline.