Book your tour by calling (231) 995-0313  extension 102

Beginning June 1, 2013:

Daily Tours:

Thursday12:00 pm  and 2:00 pm

Friday12:00 pm and 2:00 pm

Saturday 10:00 am

Sunday 12:00 pm  and 2:00 pm

Monday12:00 pm and 2:00 pm

Adults:    $14.95pp

Seniors & Children under 12:   $9.95pp

Traverse City has a unique historical story that gives us character and a sustainable competitive advantage over other “up-north” towns. The History Center is partnering with Celtic Tours, an established motor coach tour operator, which has allowed us to minimize start-up costs.  The Tour is designed to educate citizens, students and visitors about our interesting heritage through a fun 90 minute custom bus tour.

 

Take the tour and experience Traverse City history first-hand!  The tour begins at the History Center where you will learn the actors and drama of our past: the raw lumbering days, the coming of the fruit industry, the expansion of railroads and factories, early resorts, and growth of the Traverse City State Hospital.  You will board a comfortable coach for a 90-minute, nine-mile tour of Traverse City.  Points of interest include the stylish homes of Sixth Street, the Old Town commercial district, the historic Courthouse, the City’s beautiful downtown, the Bay front and Warehouse district, Traverse City’s oldest neighborhood, Slabtown, and the Village at the Grand Traverse Commons, formerly the site of the Traverse City State Hospital.  Tour guides are eager to share stories about Perry Hannah, the town’s founder, “Wild” Bill Germaine, a colorful con artist of the turn of the century, cannons that mysteriously discharged during a ceremonial occasion, the Native American presence at the mouth of the Boardman River, patient care at the Traverse City State Hospital, and little known facts about the relationship of Traverse City to celebrities like Henry Ford and golfing great Walter Hagen. 

 

Route

Start at the History Center/Perry Hannah House/Central Neighborhood; then east to Old Town, Haggerty and the Park Place Hotel; then to the Historic Boardman Neighborhood and the Hull Houses; then west along Historic Front Street to Union Street the waterfront and the CVB; then to the warehouse district and Hall Street (location of the original Hannah House); then to Munson Hospital and the Historic Commons (with a 15 minute debarkation); then to the Historic Barns and back to the Commons (Old Munson Hospital and Old Center); then return to the History Center.

 

Stops will be short (3-5 minutes) with the exception of the Commons (15 minutes where people can browse the Mercado/Stella for a few moments, thus encouraging them to return after the tour).  The intent of the tour is to give passengers a taste of TC and encourage them to return to places of historic interest.  The total elapsed time is intended to be less than 90 minutes.