Harbormaster Edie Aylsworth at the helm in Suttons Bay Marina

By Sandra Serra Bradshaw

Sun contributor

I remember the black wharves and the slips,

And the sea-tides tossing free; -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The Suttons Bay Marina and Park is located just steps east of the engaging village of Suttons Bay on West Grand Traverse Bay. Here, where the attraction to water means just about everything to visitors and locals alike, you will find Harbor Master, Edie Aylsworth overseeing the ongoing operations of this 174-slip marina. It is a highly responsible position, and one she has been entrusted with well. As Harbor Master, Edie is the person officially designated to enforce the regulations of the harbor, the one who makes final decisions as to ensure the safety of navigation in nearby waters, the security of the harbor itself, and the correct operation of the marina’s facilities. It really can be compared to the nautical version of an air traffic controller, and one just as responsible for keeping peoples’ lives safe.

This quaint town and marina is the namesake of Harry Chittenden Sutton (1809-1907). He established a lumber camp on the then unnamed bay in the 1850s. Sutton – and quite rightly so – thought the bay was an ideal place to build a dock so steamer ships could stop for cord wood; the ever-important fuel to feed the boats’ hungry wood burning boilers. This spot became base-camp for Sutton’s woodsmen as they were busily cutting the dense forests of the North Woods. The boats would anchor offshore, as near-shore was, and still is, quite shallow – much too shallow for the boats.

“They used to transport the wood out on what were called lighters, a type of flat-bottomed barge they used to transfer goods and passengers to and from the moored ships,” explained Northport historian and author, Kathleen Craker Firestone. Last year her book, a historical maritime record of the area, “Meet me at the Dock in Grellickville” was released, and now she is busy at work on her next book on “Leelanau’s commercial dock series covering Suttons Bay, Peshawbestown and Bingham wharfs,” she said. Sutton named this idyllic spot on the bay Suttonsburg; later it was aptly named Pleasantville, and by the late 1800s became known as Suttons Bay.

Here, at this same place, although years apart from Harry C. Sutton’s days, Captain Thomas M. Kelly (1949-2016) also knew this as an ideal port for boats and made Suttons Bay headquarters for his Inland Seas Education Association (ISEA, see accompanying article) in 1989. “Leelanau is a special place for me because of the water. We are everywhere close to the water; marshes and bogs, constant cold-streams, lakes, and Lake Michigan and Grand Traverse Bay. Even the hills and valleys that give the county its character and climate were shaped by water (frozen water, that is, and the glacial meltwater that followed),” he wrote in my first book, “Seasons of the Leelanau.”

“Being almost surrounded by water makes for a pleasant isolation. You can only get here on purpose.  We are not on the way to any other place. Unless you are traveling by boat, the water is a connecting medium. It appeals to me that we are connected nautically with Boston, Bombay, and Buenos Aires,” wrote Kelly, noting Suttons Bay’s capabilities for one to sail to distant ports. “There is a freedom in knowing that our horizon is not confined by an inland lake, and with the right boat you could sail away to…” meaning, just anywhere, his words reflected. “There is something special here about the people. I don’t know if it is the landscape, the waters, or the climate that makes it this way. I only know that there are a lot of unique people in Leelanau. Some have family names that have been here over a hundred years. Some have just moved here. But these are a friendly, preserving folk, and I am proud to be among them.”

The marina recently upgraded its floating docks, power and water systems, all an integral part of the 2012 Marina Master Plan. (The Suttons Bay Marina, Master Plan, Implementation, Summary of Recommendations, Draft Report was submitted Sept. 9, 2014.)  “Captain Kelly helped out with developing the plan’s recommendations,” said Edie. “These upgrades were made not only for enhanced performance but also safety.” With the new floating dock system installed, the marina is capable of handling the ever-changing seasonally high and low lake levels. This became crucial with near-lake level lows in 2015 and then at the opposite end of the spectrum, near-high lake levels in 2020. Another aspect of the project has been the power upgrade, all done to increase safety. As a result of these much-needed improvements, if a boat is leaking current, the system is designed to trip the breaker, ultimately stopping the leak into the surrounding water. Certainly, a comforting thing to know.

Here too, you will find a welcoming public beach where residents and visitors alike can sunbathe, swim, and play in the sparkling clear waters. The park offers picnic tables, grills and volleyball nets, and is pet-friendly. The water here is shallow with a sugar sand beach; a favorite for families who can spend the day relaxing. The marina gives boating visitors a place to moor while they enjoy all the many amenities the nearby village has to offer. As a waterside community, shipping and sailing have played a strong role in the history of Suttons Bay.

“The majority of our slips here are seasonal,” Edie explained. “Most who have seasonal slips are local people, with the rest ranging throughout the state. We have 40 transient slips that we rent out nightly. Then, on occasion we see ‘Loopers’ who might have started out [boating] from southern Florida,” she continued. “We have a three to 10 year waiting list for a seasonal slip of around 134 boaters. Thirty years or so ago, that waiting list was only around thirty people. Everyone these days want to be on the bay,” she smiled.

Edie was born in Farmington Hills, and moved to northern Michigan with her family in 1978. “Both of my parents are from here,” said Edie. “My family has a long history in the Empire area as far back as the mid to late 1800s and North Manitou Island before that,” she added. “My background in education is not marine related, it is actually in graphic design. I fell into the marine industry when I moved back here from Los Angeles. I decided after moving back home that I could no longer stare at a computer all day and needed to be outside. I started working for my family’s marina (the Glen Craft Marina which recently sold this Spring) in Glen Arbor where I stayed for ten years,” she continued. “After a spell, there I left because working with family can be hard. I came across an ad for the Harbormaster position in Suttons Bay shortly after leaving Glen Craft, and knew that it was fate. I have always been attracted to boating and water.”

A welcoming feature to the marina are the pots of herbs gracing each and every gangway that Edie carefully planted and lovingly tends to. “They range from basil, sage, oregano, thyme, mint, tarragon, lemon balm…I can’t think of an herb we don’t have. Why just plant only flowers?” asked Edie. “We plant herbs so everyone can enjoy cooking and savoring them. We welcome anyone and everyone who passes by to take a few snips.”

“We love it here,” said Sarah Steinhour, a long-time sailor from Wayne, Michigan. “This marina is our favorite place to come. We are happy customers!”