Balancing Environment and Rehabilitation

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Sleeping Bear Inn awakens

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As we peer out the original windows of the restored Sleeping Bear Inn and into Lake Michigan’s rolling blue waves, we imagine a Michigan Transit Co. steamship arriving at the 650-foot dock in Glen Haven, just as it would have in the 1920s, carrying lumbermen, tourists, and fortune seekers who had departed Chicago the previous evening. The visitors disembark, plant their feet on land and gaze with wonder at the shoreline and the Manitou Islands floating in the distance. The Sleeping Bear Inn, the crowned jewel of Glen Haven, reopens to guests later this summer, more than 50 years after it closed when this National Lakeshore was created in 1972. The Inn, which was built in 1866 and served guests through the Michigan lumber boom, the roaring ’20s, and the era of dune buggies, is the oldest hotel in the National Park Service

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Sleeping Bear Inn takes reservations for August 2024, and beyond

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The historic Sleeping Bear Inn, the oldest hotel in the National Park System, is now taking reservations for August and beyond. Click on the story to read more and to reserve a room. Originally built between 1865-1867, the inn located in Glen Haven across the street from the cannery building served as a frontier hotel for business travelers and local workers. It continued in operation throughout the next century, evolving into a tourist hotel. It has been closed since the mid-1970s. The nonprofit Balancing Environment and Rehabilitation (BEAR) signed a lease in 2022 to renovate the Sleeping Bear Inn and operate it as a bed and breakfast. “This year marks two years of active renovation at Sleeping Bear Inn for our BEAR team, and with the finish line in our sights, we are elated to start thinking about the hospitality aspect of our work,” said executive director Maggie Kato.

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Oldest hotel in National Park, Sleeping Bear Inn gets new lease on life

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On a blustery, cold April 8, with approximately 400 bundled, enthusiastic citizens as witnesses, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore superintendent Scott Tucker handed the keys of the Sleeping Bear Inn and Garage to Maggie Kato, executive director of the nonprofit Balancing Environment and Rehabilitation, which now has a 40-year lease to rehab the historic Glen Haven inn and re-open it as a bed and breakfast as soon as Spring 2023. Once resurrected, the Sleeping Bear Inn will be the oldest hotel in the National Park System where one can spend the night—even older than Yellowstone, the nation’s first national park, which was established in 1872.

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National Park leases Sleeping Bear Inn to nonprofit group Balancing Environment and Rehabilitation

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Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore has officially issued a 40-year lease to Balancing Environment and Rehabilitation (BEAR) for the historic Sleeping Bear Inn and Garage in Glen Haven. The lease allows the Inn to be rehabilitated and opened as a premier bed and breakfast lodge. A public open house of the buildings will take place on Friday, April 8, at 1 p.m., following a short ceremony. The open house will provide the public the opportunity to see the buildings as they are before their rehabilitation.

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National Park Service issues letter of intent to lease historic Sleeping Bear Inn and Garage

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore announced today that The National Park Service issued a letter of intent on November 5 for the development of a lease for the historic Sleeping Bear Inn and Garage in Glen Haven to Balancing Environment and Rehabilitation (BEAR). BEAR formed in 2018 as a nonprofit dedicated to keeping the history and heritage of Glen Haven sustainable.

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