Topinabee, Michigan
Near Petoskey, Michigan
The village of Topinabee sits on the southern shore of Mullett Lake, and its name reaches back to a Potawatomi leader known as Topinabee, which translates roughly as Great Bear Heart. He signed the Treaty of Greenville in seventeen ninety-five, ceding land to the young United States.
In eighteen eighty-one, the Michigan Central Railroad laid tracks through this shoreline and a hotel man named H. H. Pike platted the community, giving it the chief's name. A post office followed in April of eighteen eighty-two. What began as a railroad stop grew into a summer resort, drawing visitors from Detroit and Chicago to the cool, clear waters of Mullett Lake, a role the little village still plays today.
