The Definitive Answer to Where Northern Michigan Begins

Where is Northern Michigan? That’s the question. Determining the boundary isn’t geographical alone. There are cultural factors. There are sociological factors. There is the question of population. There is the question of vacation. Simply put, Northern Michigan is a vibe.

Of course, if you want to conduct a full cultural, geographical, and sociological study, you can break down every crack and corner, and detail your results in a highly elaborate color-coordinated map. But all of this can become overly convoluted, with regions that overlap and cultural distinctions that obfuscate the clearest delineation. Ultimately, at the most basic level, there are two Michigans; and no, they’re not the Upper Peninsula and the Lower Peninsula, but Northern Michigan and Southern Michigan.

Take out a map and find Linwood. It’s a small town on Lake Huron. This is the easternmost point on the southern border of Northern Michigan. From Linwood, the line runs west—passing south of Stanford and just north of Midland, south of Mt. Pleasant and just north of Shepherd. Next, the border dips south—running right alongside Edmore and Greenville, finally passing just south of Grand Rapids before heading over to the lake south of Zeeland and Holland. Geographically speaking, this is it.

I can hear the confused protests. “Holland isn’t part of the North!” “It’s not split 50/50!” “Why is Northern Michigan so much bigger than Southern Michigan?!” That’s because, to truly understand where Northern Michigan separates from Southern Michigan, you need to consider more than geography.

Where is Northern Michigan? Simply put, Northern Michigan is a vibe.

Like a teeter totter, the boundary tilts with the eastern end raised higher than the western. The Detroit area is a behemoth. The population density, the pace of life, and the industry all impact culture and lifestyle profoundly. Metro Detroit’s cultural and social effects reach much farther north on the east side of the state. For this reason, Saginaw and Bay City are not a part of Northern Michigan, despite being farther north than Holland. Northern Michigan begins outside of Metro Detroit’s reach and orbits a pole other than Metro Detroit.

What defines the essence of Northern Michigan isn’t easily written down, but you can feel it in your bones. It’s the sum of 10,000 parts that make up a whole. When you drive from a suburb of Detroit to any place above the boundary line, you feel the difference. The exits get farther apart, the cars thin out, the billboards fade, the drivers are nicer. It comes slowly, then all of a sudden. And the farther beyond the line you travel, the more pronounced the difference becomes. Fewer stop lights, less noise, further stores, taller trees, deeper woods, larger fields, emptier lakes, rougher water, smaller towns.

If your mind races in the South, it is relieved in the North. In Northern Michigan, you don’t hear the menacing sound of a rumbling stereo rolling down the road outside the CVS while you wait in line behind 12 other sorry souls. Instead, you look over the glassy water of a long lake with only the sound of the morning birds. In Northern Michigan, you can drive on cruise control for an hour without ever touching the brake. There is no rush hour. The stars are brighter in the cold night. The light pollution from the southeast doesn’t block out the heavens. The faint sound of coyotes howling in the night is eerie and beautiful.

When people from the southeast side of the state say they are going “Up North,” where is that? That’s Northern Michigan. Where are the beaches and lake towns where everyone goes on vacation? That’s Northern Michigan. That Michigan is a slower Michigan. There, you aren’t aware of the newest cultural developments. You aren’t racing toward the future. You are in a more natural world. You are on another track. No new restaurants to choose from on any given night. No strip malls with the same stores. Sometimes, places close for months at a time while waiting for summer to come. There are liquor stores in the middle of nowhere, you can buy a license for hunting pheasant at a gas station where you pump first and then pay inside after. Snowmobile tracks that run across the road every February. These same snowmobiles race through the woods on a winter’s day. You can see their lights through the pines as you drive on US-10 on a freezing Saturday night. The school gives time off for opening day of deer season. There are bumper stickers plastered on trucks that read, “Why do they call it tourist season if you can’t shoot them?” You can get a Vernors fountain pop at McDonalds.