AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2022 - 68

Dave Russell's passion for everything Wright is displayed in his small museum in Petoskey. Some artifacts are
authentic, some are from the time period, and some are simply for fun.
expansive water views. The cobblestone streets
of Petoskey's Gaslight District offer more than
170 shops and restaurants. Of the many famous
and wealthy people who have summered in
Petoskey, Ernest Hemingway's family who
began summering here in 1900 is most revered.
There are many markers at the writer's favorite
haunts including what is now the City Park Grill
where a charming skeleton perches at the end of
the bar in front of his typewriter, wearing a hat.
At the top of Petoskey's hilly street and
across from the City Park Grill is a green park
replete with old-fashioned white painted
gazebo. A surprising look across the green finds
a familiar store front. The Wright brothers' bicycle
shop in downtown Petoskey? If you've seen
the replica in Dayton, Ohio, or the remains of the
original shop in Henry Ford's Greenfield Village
in Dearborn, Michigan, then you'll be as surprised
as we were to discover what looked like
the storefront on the town green.
Dave Russell, a longtime Petoskey resident
and owner of Dave's Boot Shop in the Gaslight
District, became enamored with the Wrights
when he was a boy. He began collecting stuff that
had to do with the famous brothers-from a collection
of bicycles that will amaze you to books,
letters, drawings, advertisements, and so much
more (including an outhouse set up next door).
Island hopping
No self-respecting aviation travel writer would be allowed to mention this area without
citing Mackinac Island and its step-back-in-time romantic charm-horse-drawn
carriages (no cars allowed!), grand seafront hotels, and fudge so famous it's one of
the main draws to this 3.8-square-mile island. Mackinac Island Airport (MCD) is the
gateway to this historic town so you can skip the 20-minute ferry ride from St. Ignace.
Beaver Island is the quiet, but larger alternative to snazzy Mackinac. This 55-squaremile
island in north Lake Michigan is a 15-minute flight from Charlevoix. There
are two airports: in-town family-owned Welke Airport (6Y8) and the center-island
township-owned Beaver Island Airport (SJX). Beaver Island has pristine beaches, two
historic lighthouses, and is famous for its dark sky views. There is a two-hour ferry
ride, but the flight-especially with Island Airways-is magical.
Nearby South Fox and North Fox islands are also supported by small airfields. South
Fox Island is a small airstrip with a big name: Claus Von Stauffenberg Airstrip (3MI2).
North Fox Island Airport (6Y3) is between South Fox Island and Beaver Island. Both
islands are uninhabited. Developer David V. Johnson bought both islands in the
1990s and sold North Fox back to the state. He planned a home and resort on South
Fox Island, installing a 5,000-foot-long runway, but did not complete the project.
The private-use airstrip is named for the World War II German officer Claus Von
Stauffenberg, who plotted to assassinate Adolf Hitler but failed (think Tom Cruise in
the film Valkyrie).
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AOPA PILOT / March 2022
He claims to have met Wright relatives, including
an aunt. And he keeps his Wright memorabilia
in a store he designed to look like the original
Wright Brothers Bicycle Shop (including, as I
said, an outhouse). But it is not open to the public.
You must walk up the lane to East Lake Street
(appears to be the main drag) to his shops(s)-
there's a rabbit warren of Dave's Boot Shop,
which flows into Russell's Shoes, which merges
into a Mercantile-and ask for Dave. From the
basement a Geppetto-like man appears in his
cobbler's apron (although he and others will offer
immediately that they no longer do shoe repair)
and he beams, just beams, with joy that you want
to see his Wright brothers' shop/store/museum/
whatever. There is no website, no business name.
If you'd like to see this remarkable collection, you
have to go to Petoskey...and ask for Dave.
And then there was this
If you keep looking for aviation-related sites
when you're traveling (and sometimes when
you're not really looking as in the case of Dave's
Shoes) you stumble on remarkable places that
often the people in the area take for granted.
While the pilots and airport managers we spoke
with all along the upper coast of Lake Michigan
certainly had great things to say about flying
the area-the Caribbean-blue waters, incredible
views of places such as Sleeping Bear Dunes
and the great Mackinac Bridge, approaches that
burst out over the water, and quiet island airports
like Welke Airport on Beaver Island-we
found Woolsey Memorial Airport (5D5) at the
very tip of the Leelanau Peninsula, five miles
north of the village of Northport. Named for
Clinton F. Woolsey, a pilot in World War I and
flight instructor to Charles A. Lindbergh (yep,
that guy), this grass field sits on 80 acres of land
at the end of the peninsula, as if the last takeoff
spot on Earth. Woolsey died in a crash during
the Pan-American Goodwill Flight in 1927. His
heartbroken father gave the 80 acres, a barn,
and milk house to Leelanau Township. The former
creamery and milk house that the Works
Progress Administration remade into a terminal
sits on the side of the lonely road, a bronze
plaque placed on a large boulder honors Capt.
Woolsey. Woolsey Airport was dedicated in
1935. Today it appeared abandoned, but each
year there's a Fly-In/Drive-In breakfast here
with vintage airplanes and cars, presented by
the local Lions Club. We want to go back.
julie.walker@aopa.org
DESTINATIONS
NORTHERN MICHIGAN

AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2022

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