Michigan · Castle
Castle Farms
Castle Farms in Charlevoix, Michigan, was built in 1918 as a model dairy farm and now operates as a restored castle with courtyards, gardens and indoor halls.
The story
A 1887 summer hotel on a car-free island
Grand Hotel opened on 10 July 1887 after just 93 days of construction, built by a group of railway and steamship companies and designed by the Detroit architects Mason and Rice. It was marketed as a summer retreat for visitors from Chicago, Detroit and Montreal. It became a National Historic Landmark in 1989, and its front porch, about 660 feet long, is billed as the longest in the world.
The island sets the terms of any wedding here. Motor vehicles are banned apart from emergency vehicles, so the journey from the ferry dock to the hotel is made by horse-drawn carriage, and the hotel is closed in winter when ice halts the ferries. Weddings are therefore a summer and early-autumn affair, with the hotel's porches, lawns and dining rooms in use as ceremony and reception settings.
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