Bay City for Boaters

The USS Edson once appeared in an episode of “The Twilight Zone” and also provided communications support for first responders during the 9/11 attacks in New York City. The ship’s history comes alive during self or guided tours.

Bay City recalls its lumbering and maritime heritage with historic buildings in a revitalized riverside downtown dotted with outdoor patios, dockside dining options — including Real Seafood Company Bay City, H20’s Waterside Grill and Drift Shoreside Beer Garden — and eclectic boutiques, such as Violets Blue and G.T. Homestead.

Nearby, Center Avenue is lined with dozens of mansions built from the 19th century by lumber barons and shipping tycoons in a variety of architectural styles, including Victorian, Italianate, Queen Anne and Tudor Revival.

Scattered among them are numerous kit homes designed by two pioneering hometown companies, Aladdin and Lewis & Liberty. The Bay City-based businesses were early manufacturers of mail-order kit homes that included all the pre-cut wood pieces and other materials, supplies and instructions needed to assemble a house on site. You’ll find a tour map of the Historic District at bit.ly/HistoricTourMap.

Dig in

With just under 32,000 residents, Bay City boasts a robust dining scene. Think waterfront patios, lively taverns and brewpubs, and classic restaurants with fare ranging from Great Lakes walleye, stuffed cabbage and pierogis to an Uptown Grill favorite, Baklava French Toast. Try the smoked cocktails and “loaded woodchips” (maple bacon-sauced potatoes) at Beaver’s Pub, and smoked brisket or smoked shrimp tacos at BarqueBC Taqueria.

The newest spot in town, North Peak Brewing Company, is making headlines in its historic downtown building with perch-and-dill pickle pizza, house-smoked trout chowder and kielbasa fries. It adjoins Kilkenny’s Irish Public House, which also opened in late May. A few blocks down, Tavern 101 offers some 50 craft beers and ciders on tap.

On Wednesday and Sunday nights, line dancing breaks out on the Third Street Star Bridge, a pedestrian-friendly block with strings of criss-crossing lights creating a canopy of light. Bands play Thursdays through Saturdays.

Three miles from downtown, the city’s Polish heritage shines at Krzysiak’s House, known for its copious luncheon buffet. Hearty sandwiches and barbecue are served up at Meats & Mooore, which combines an old-fashioned Polish butcher shop (yes, three Os in its name) with Meaty’s Roadhouse BBQ.

Outdoor murals illustrate the shop’s history as a cooperage that produced barrels and wooden containers. It’s where Annie Edson Taylor, a Bay City etiquette teacher, commissioned the 160-pound barrel she used to famously plunge over Niagara Falls on her 63rd birthday in 1901. She was the first person to survive such a stunt, earning the moniker “Queen of the Mist,” but, unfortunately, it didn’t produce the money from speaking engagements she had hoped would finance her retirement.

Shop and explore

As home to Michigan’s largest indoor antiques mall, Bay City is nirvana for antiques lovers. Stretching a whole city block, the Bay City Antiques Center is chock-full of oldies but goodies from more than 100 dealers spread across 60,000 square feet and multiple floors. Antique buffs spend hours browsing through everything from glassware, tools, dolls, coins and furniture to vinyl records, architectural salvage, old books and comics, vintage clothing, military and nautical items, and more.

If that isn’t enough, check out the smaller Americana Company Antiques down the block. Next door to that, Beatles and Beans Coffee Emporium is a veritable Fab Four shrine brimming with memorabilia, including records plastered on the ceiling, posters, collectibles and figurines.

You can’t miss Delta College Planetarium, shaped like a rocket exhaust nozzle; its reddish-orange exterior is based on the colors of the sun’s gases, while the building’s two black wings represent the blackness of space. The planetarium presents shows Wednesday through Saturday and hosts occasional night sky-viewing events. Check delta.edu/calendar/planetarium.html.

Sweet tooth

Scattered around Bay City are enough bakeries, ice cream and candy shops to satisfy even the most voracious sweet tooth.

For starters, check out the hand-crafted ice cream with locally sourced ingredients (like carrots, rhubarb and berries) and bubble waffle cones at Michigan Cream & Sugar Ice Cream Company.

Don’t miss the cakes and fruit tarts at Petit 4 Pastry, and save room for a Felony Apple Fritter at Cops & Donuts, a cop-run bakery. The hidden drawers, candy-delivering buckets on pulleys and treats displayed around every corner are an eye-popping experience at Tummy Ache Candy Store Emporium.

Downtown’s City Market — with a “Birthplace of Madonna” mural on the building’s side and the cavernous Crazy Quarters Arcade inside — offers two dessert spots: The Little Pastry Shop and The Polar Lab.

One of Madonna’s favorite childhood haunts, St. Laurent Brothers, still dispenses hand-dipped chocolates, candy, roasted nuts and all-natural peanut butter 122 years after its founding in 1904. Also known as “The Nut House,” it’s in the historic former New European Hotel with catacombs underneath, the remnants of a 19th-century limestone quarry.

History buff

The New European Hotel was part of a notorious lumbering era district, stretching along Bay City’s waterfront, known as Hell’s Half Mile. Jammed with saloons, gambling dens, brothels and theaters, it was a magnet in the late 1800s for lumberjacks on paycheck-spending sprees from their monotonous tree-cutting work in the north woods.

That colorful history is detailed in a display in the adjacent Waterfall Park. Among the district’s larger-than-life characters was a lumber foreman named Fabian “Saginaw Joe” Fournier, who had a double set of teeth and whose exploits may have inspired the Paul Bunyan legends.

Learn more history at the Antique Toy and Firehouse Museum or in the Bay County Historical Society Museum (did you know Warren Avis of rental car fame was a Bay City native?). Or take a history tour aboard the excursion boat Princess Wenonah, a restored ferry that also offers music-themed cruises.

For a birds’-eye view of Bay City and the Saginaw River, head to the old City Hall (open on business days), listed in the Smithsonian Institution Archives for notable historic restoration. Find the observation deck in the 182-foot-tall clock tower and prepare to “ooh” and “ahh” at the view.

Bay City rewards boaters who linger. From its deep maritime roots and vibrant downtown to its unexpected attractions and welcoming marinas, this Saginaw Bay destination offers far more than a convenient stopover — it’s one of Lake Huron’s most pleasantly surprising ports of call.