The Most Romantic Town in Michigan
Jul 24, 2006  And the winner is: St. Joseph!
Well, at least it's a contender, and give me a minute to explain. Months ago, when I first asked for "where to go" suggestions, I got a blog comment from a fellow whose name has faded out into cyberspace. He said, and I quote: "My wife and I think St. Joseph is the most romantic city in Michigan." I chuckled to myself, and even quoted him in a column right below a fellow who keeps homes in both Manhattan and Clio, and believes Clio is among "the finest places on earth" Other people told me to go to St. Joe for the beaches. Pam Murray, for example, wrote: "I'm a Motor City girl who hates to drive any more than I have to, and St. Joe is a much more do-able weekend trip from metro Detroit than Up North: 3 hours or so versus 5 hours plus. Start with Silver Beach: the big, clean, flat beach with the big, clean bathhouse, the playground equipment and the on-the-beach snack bar run by a local restaurant. It's flat and calm and shallow and good for swimming. (I've done several triathlons there.)" Then I started getting calls and emails from the town's city manager, Frank Walsh. I liked him. I liked his persistence. He vowed NOT to roll out a red carpet for me. He promised I'd like what I saw.  So OK. OK, already. I finally visited St. Joseph, and I admit I was duly impressed. The beach is huge and wide, like Ludington's. The town is walkable and well-tended, in part because city fathers and mothers took 48 hours last fall to tour 10 other lake-front towns in Michigan and found their own lacking. They decided to spend $200,000 this season to spruce themselves up.
We enjoyed a fine and fun meal at Schu's, run by a grandson of Win Schuler at a spot overlooking the water. And we spent an oh-too-brief night at South Cliff Inn B&B, where innkeeper Bill Swisher,  fearing a coming storm might take out the power, actually got up an hour earlier than usual to bake coffeecake, bread pudding and an egg souffle for his dozen guests for breakfast. His place (where we got the cheapest room for $100) perches on a bluff south of town, overlooking the lake. A path winds through his meticulous garden to a platform where you can sit, as we did, in the night, a glass of wine in hand, and watch the lights of homecoming fishing boats. One other reason to go, especially if you're from metro Detroit: The town's cable TV servers pull no stations from Detroit, just South Bend and Chicago. In St. Joseph, then, you can really get away from it all.
Posted: 07/25/2006 at 03:07 PM
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