Sunset Lodge: Evolution of an up-north resort
By Rebecca G Carlson
Sun contributor
The fourth story in our series on the history of Leelanau County resorts and getaways.
Sitting atop a bluff overlooking tranquil Omena Bay, Sunset Lodge is one of the last original Leelanau Peninsula resorts. It is the early 20th century postcards sent from the lodge to friends and family back home that offer a unique glimpse into early Leelanau Peninsula resort history and life.
From one of the earliest postcards, “Dear Mirna Here it is the famous village (one street)…told all your fellows helo (sic) for you. Kate” (July 1910). Another postcard lists the activities of the day. Addressed to Miss Elizabeth B, “I am sitting on the porch looking at the sun on the water, it is certainly beautiful. We are having a great time boating and bathing and walking and also eating. [Sunset Lodge] is a lovely place. Love to all” (August 1910). The inclusion of “eating” as a vacation activity made me smile as I thought back to family vacations. Choosing the right place to get an ice cream is in fact an activity! Lastly, one from a Wheeler family member (original owners), “Dear Miss Adam…Sunset Lodge belongs to my uncle…It is on a high place facing Grand Traverse Bay—view and air are perfect…Lovingly Mabel” (August 1914). This sampling of guest postcards sent from Sunset Lodge offer a valuable source of information about early resort life and culture highlighting the rich history, deep roots, and longevity in the area.
Location and health benefits drew many late 19th and early 20th century visitors to Leelanau Peninsula resorts such as Sunset Lodge. Located 20 miles north of Traverse City on the Leelanau Peninsula, Omena is a picture-perfect village ideally situated along a protected part of West Bay. “Sunset Lodge…is elevated above the water in such a way that Omena Point and Grand Traverse Bay present a beautiful vista along the horizon” (Traverse City Record Eagle TCRE 1933).
Health benefits were also promoted to attract visitors and guests for hay fever and allergy related issues. “The climatic influence of [Lake Michigan and West Bay]…assures an atmosphere as refreshing as it is bracing and clean” (TRCE). Prior to the invention of air conditioning (AC), hot and humid summers drove those who could afford it north to find relief. In the 21st century we do not think twice about hitting a button in the home or car that turns on the AC. However, in the late 19th and early 20th century, travelers re-located from their homes to find those cooling breezes and relief, as in resorts like Sunset Lodge located in northern Michigan.
In the early years of Sunset Lodge, guests arrived either by steamship or rail to Omena. Leonard Wheeler would pick up his guests either at the steamship docks or rail depot with a horse and buggy, conveying the visitors on the final leg of their journey. As noted by nephew Horace Wheeler in his “History of Sunset Lodge,” “Overnight Pullman trains on the Pennsylvania and Pere-Marquette R.R. would bring guests right up to the Omena depot; also the Michigan Transit SS. Co. would dock 3 times weekly at our Omena dock. Guests came with their trunks to stay 2 [up to] 3 months vacation.” A three-month vacation sounds perfect in our 24/7 world.
In a later TCRE article, Sunset Lodge, under the proprietorship of C.E. Wheeler, brother of Leonard, began promoting the benefits of arriving by car. “The fine surfaced highways over the hills and through the valleys of rolling terrain,…lakes, wooded hills and orchards afford the motorist scenery of unusual enchantment” (June 1936). It is the Wheeler Family who figured prominently in the establishment, promotion, and growth of Sunset Lodge.
What began as a retirement home for Leonard Hemeway Wheeler and wife Rhoda Spicer Wheeler in the 1890s, Sunset Lodge (appropriately named for their retirement years) evolved into a thriving resort for family and friends. According to family chronicler Horace Wheeler, nephew to Leonard, the Wheelers built “a large 3-story colonial type house” on the “140-acre farm” in Omena. He further explains how the retirement home evolved into a resort: “In their enthusiasm they invited…friends to visit…[to] discover the charm of their new found environment…[T]he guest list steadily increased and the Leonard Wheelers found themselves in the resort business” (“History of Sunset Lodge”). In the following years, Leonard and Rhoda added cottages and outbuildings to expand the resort. They added two-story cottages named The Shedd Cottage (after friends from Chicago and yes, related to the Shedd Aquarium) as well as The Dixie Cottage for friends from the South.
In the earliest promotional article I could find from the TCRE, “There are six cottages at Sunset Lodge and all are full. Among the cottagers are F.F. Getchell and daughter, Chicago; J.G. Shedd and family, Chicago; Eugene Wheeler and sons, Beloit, Wis.” (July 1907). Later on, according to Horace, “a ‘marine’ dining room…was added…with a 2-story recreational…‘Social Hall’.” In searching for an explanation of a “marine dining room,” the only description I could find was a dining room with a view of water, etc. Otherwise, the search went down rabbit holes that completely deviated from dining room design. Lastly, buildings for laundry, a summer kitchen, large barn for carriages and horses, and workers’ quarters of the resort were added under Leonard’s stewardship.
Horace remembers that “guests loved the home-cooked meals with fresh vegetables from the garden which attracted the cottagers from Omena Point and Ingalls Bay…fill[ing] the 100 seats in the dining room.” In 1917, after Leonard Wheeler passed away, his brother Charles Eugene (C.E.) Wheeler, assumed the lead role in managing and hosting guests at Sunset Lodge.
C.E. Wheeler and sons Horace and Eugene (Gene) are responsible for growing the business at Sunset Lodge in the 1920s and 1930s. A TCRE article “Sunset Lodge has Advantage” beckons the reader and potential guests. “To those seeking change, recreation and beautiful diversions in their summer vacations” come to Sunset Lodge. Furthermore, the article explains the advantage of Sunset Lodge, “provid[ing] a homelike place with congenial surroundings for people desiring restful and private accommodations” (June 1936).
In growing the business, Horace mentions securing “a dance band” for the dining hall and explains his daughter, who “majored in Architecture and Design at the University of Michigan opened ‘Nancy Jo’s Paint Box’ and Barn Summer Arts Studios,” offered art classes as well as organizing field trips for guests and locals (“History of Sunset Lodge”). Nancy Jo’s charming farm animals painted on the barn doors still charms Sunset Lodge guests in 2025. Additional resort activities for guests are also referenced in both the article from 1907 and Horace Wheeler’s account.
In Horace’s words, “Uncle Leonard would often hitch up a large hay-rack to carry a group of his summer guests on an all day outing with a picnic on the north end of Lake Leelanau” (“History of Sunset Lodge”). These outings were also referenced in the 1907 article, “two loads of young people went to Lake Leelanau for a picnic” (TCRE). Other activities noted are launch parties, dancing the “Virginia Reel…card parties, charades…fishing, bathing, boating, hiking, tennis [and] golf” (TCRE 1936). Horace notes the “double cement tennis and croquet courts” being constructed under Leonard’s ownership for guests. After C.E. Wheeler passed away, Sunset Lodge entered its 3rd generation Wheeler Family owner under son Horace’s caretaking.
During the WWII years of the 1940s, traditional meal plans and length of stay changed. Horace notes that resorts and Sunset Lodge in particular were affected by rationing and a reduction in tourists. With “tightened food allotments Sunset Lodge was forced to abandon the ‘American Plan’…and go into ‘kitchenettes.’” The American Plan references lodging prices that included three meals a day. During his father C.E.’s proprietorship, the American Plan cost “$4 a day” or “$25 a week” with more discounts the longer the guest stayed. However, as the number of small restaurants and eateries grew in the area, guests were not limited to eating only at the resorts.
Another change to vacation travel is length of stay. With the expansion of roads and automobiles, it did not take several days to arrive at a vacation destination via steamship or rail. As a result, guests were no longer staying two to three months. Having automobiles allowed more flexibility for visitors. They could explore and travel outside of the resort to other areas on their own. However, in the 1940s and 1950s, it was the motor vehicle that alters the Up-North resort culture.
Essentially, post-WWII affects the largest evolution of the tourist and resort business in the Leelanau Peninsula. During this time, tourists primarily came to the area by automobile and stayed for shorter periods of time. The resort owners had to adapt to changing needs. Many who initially came to the area by visiting a resort ended up purchasing their own slice of paradise in the Leelanau Peninsula, thus another loss of revenue for the Up-North resorts. According to Leelanau Enterprise writer Debby Disch, “Horace and his family guid[e] the resort through its final stage of Wheeler proprietorship.” In total, three generations of Wheeler family members successfully owned and managed Sunset Lodge for about 60+ years.
By the 1970s, Richard and Ginny Johnstone operated Sunset Lodge for about 20 years before David and Linda Jacobs, local builder, extensively renovated the main house and cottages, turning the resort into a successful bed and breakfast. Altering the old cement tennis courts, the Jacobs built the first pickleball courts in the area at the resort, which are still in use in 2025.
Current Sunset Lodge owners and hosts, Dan and Mary Zeigler from Ann Arbor, purchased the 13-acre property in 2014. According to Dan, they are in “year eleven of a five-year plan.” Under Dan and Mary’s stewardship, Sunset Lodge is open with guest suite cottage efficiencies allowing privacy and comfort.
Accommodating up to 16 guests in the cottages, Dan and Mary encourage visitors to partake in local activity pursuits such as hiking, wine tasting, biking, and, of course, pickleball. Mary commented that Sunset Lodge has also hosted yoga retreats and served as the location for an independent horror movie filmed at the resort, named “The Wretched,” shot around 2018.
Sunset Lodge, sitting like a sentinel overlooking Omena Bay and the village below, is located at 12819 Tatch Road, Omena, Michigan. Making reservations through Dan and Mary Zeigler’s website is a seamless process: sunsetlodgeomena.com or via Airbnb’s website. Guests will find Omena an easy, walkable village encouraging everyone to visit the Omena Historical Society Museum, Leelanau Cellars Winery, local eatery Knot Just a Bar with expansive bay views, or enjoy walking the local beach.
Finally, Horace Wheeler closed his article on family connections and history of the Sunset Lodge with a poem written in Chicago in 1938 by a former guest, Ben Franklin.
“‘Tonight I’m in the City but
My heart is far away,
Atop a bluff in Northland Woods
Beside Omena Bay…
If I could only have my wish
I’d hurry right away,
To SUNSET LODGE, upon the bluff
Beside Omena Bay.’”
(“History of Sunset Lodge” 1975)
