Homes in Greilickville are surrounded by water and woodlands
Greilickville is a spacious neighborhood just north of Traverse City on the shoreline of Grand Traverse Bay. With winding roads, a varied collection of houses, open spaces and a community focus on environmental education, this neighborhood focuses more deeply on nature than typical communities on the outskirts of a city.
Gridded streets and winding roads offer distinct neighborhood settings
Depending on location, Greilickville offers a variety of home styles. To the south, and closer to Traverse City, there are gridded streets lined with split-levels, ranch-style homes and cottages within walking distance of the bay. Prices in this area range from about $270,000 to $680,000, depending on a home's age and size. To the west, winding roads lead past vineyards and gardens to New Traditional houses set on at least an acre of property that sell from about $550,000 to $820,000. To the east, Southwest Bay Shore Drive offers large homes surrounded by trees, and some have stellar views of the bay or Cedar Lake. Parts of this area are within walking distance of Greilickville’s local restaurants and parks, and homes sell from around $2 million to $3.3 million.
Recreation includes hiking, boating and family friendly parks
Between parks, marinas, hiking trails and museums, Greilickville offers abundant recreation. Elmwood Charter Township Park has sports courts and a playground. By the bay, Greilickville Harbor Park offers playgrounds, beach volleyball courts, chess tables and a picnic pavilion with restrooms and seating. Nearby, the Elmwood Township and Center Point Marinas offer boaters a place to set sail across the West Arm of Grand Traverse Bay. The DeYoung Natural Area has trails leading to Cedar Lake, while the Leelanau Trail (part of the TART Trail System) leads north to Suttons Bay and south to Traverse City. Fulton Park, in the southern corner of the neighborhood, is a small, forested area perfect for casual evening strolls.
Across Bay Shore Drive, the Great Lakes Children’s Museum provides educational exhibits about the local environment and the ecosystems of the Great Lakes. Tom Maynard, the Director of Operations for the museum, says the local community is invested in environmental education. “Right now, I’m staring at a boat in the marina where I used to work, that conducts plankton and water tests, fish crawls and massive ecological education initiatives,” says Maynard. “You don’t see this level of interest everywhere, but our community is doing more and more to spread knowledge about the Great Lakes.”
Fresh-caught seafood and cherry-flavored ice cream
Although downtown Traverse City’s diverse collection of restaurants and bars is only 2 miles south, Greilickville has its own small dining scene. West End Tavern has a large deck overlooking the Center Point Marina, where guests can dine on New American food, including shareable dips, pizzas and fresh-caught fish. Across Bay Shore Drive is The Burrow TC, with its small but regularly updated menu of seafood, steak and Mediterranean bowls, as well as a full bar in an upscale setting. For a cool snack on a hot day, Buchan’s West Bay is an old-fashioned shop making handcrafted ice cream at their 5th-generation family owned fruit farm on Old Mission Peninsula, exclusively using milk from Michigan dairy cows. For the full “Cherry Capital of the World” experience, grab a cone of their Lighthouse Cherry, a Traverse City specialty.
Tom’s Food Market and Cherry Bend Grocery are popular choices for groceries.
The best-rated school district in Grand Traverse County
The neighborhood is part of the Traverse City Area Public School District. Families have the option to send their children to Willow Hill Elementary School, which earns an A-minus from Niche. West Middle and West Senior High School both receive a B-plus.
Most residents drive, but cycling is a popular option for commuters
Greilickville is just over 2 miles north of downtown Traverse City, and driving between the two via West Grandview Parkway normally takes between five to 10 minutes, depending on traffic. Many people commute downtown for work by car, but cycling is also a popular option. Cyclists can take the Traverse Area Recreation Trail, which follows the shoreline to Open Space Park in the center of downtown.
Because many houses border the lakeshore, the risk of flooding in this area is higher than in most Michigan neighborhoods.