Before the first road was cut through Traverse City and Suttons Bay in 1862, mail was delivered once every two weeks.  

Most Travel was by boat;  the settlers coming from the east on Lake Huron and from the west on Lake Michigan.  The wood-burning steamboats and sailing vessels carried freight and cordwood.  Steamboats transported wood for their ouwn consumption and tan bark to be used for leather tanning.  After the saw mills were built, they conveyed lumber. 

According to an early record, "by 1880 the village had grown to a lively place of about 250 inhabitants comprising four stores, three docks, two hotels, a brick schoolhouse, a saw mill, printing office and new Catholic Church." 

Today, whether travelling by car, bus, bicycle or on foot to the village, you will find yourself not on a state highway, but on St. Joseph's Avenue, the main street.

From:Suttons Bay Chamber of Commerce