Petoskey

Petoskey, resort city, seat (1902) of Emmet county, northwestern Lower Peninsula of Michigan, U.S. It is located on Little Traverse Bay of Lake Michigan, about 70 miles (110 km) northeast of Traverse City. Settled in 1852 and named for the Ottawa chief Pet-o-sega, it was the site of St. Francis Solanus Indian Mission (1859), which still stands. Originally a lumber town, it has turned to tourism and small manufacturing (plastics, wood products, auto parts). Fine ski areas are nearby. The local beaches and gravel pits are searched by rock hounds for colourful and unusual stone fossils, one of which—Petoskey stone (a type of fossilized coral)—was adopted in 1965 as the official state stone. North Central Michigan (junior) College (1958) is located in the city. The family of Ernest Hemingway spent summers on Walloon Lake, just southwest of Petoskey, for much of the author’s youth; the family cottage there is now a popular tourist attraction. The Michigan Inland Waterway, leading eventually to Lake Huron, begins at Crooked Lake, about 5 miles (8 km) northeast. Inc. village, 1879; city, 1896. Pop. (2000) 6,080; (2010) 5,670.