The only state highway in Michigan with no center line runs through old-growth forest above Lake Michigan

The road that a columnist saved from pavement

M-119 runs 20 miles along a Lake Michigan bluff from Harbor Springs north to Cross Village, and for most of that distance, the trees close in so tight overhead that the sky disappears.

This is the Tunnel of Trees, the only state highway in Michigan with no center line, and it moves at its own pace.

The road curves, drops, and bends through old-growth forest while the lake flashes in and out of view below. But the trees almost didn’t survive, and the story of how they did is worth knowing before you drive it.

The only Michigan highway with no center line

The road is narrow enough that two cars have to ease past each other on blind curves.

Some of the hemlock and white pine along the route have been standing for more than 200 years, and their canopy closes overhead like a tunnel roof.

On clear days, the bluff opens up just enough to catch Lake Michigan stretching west, with Beaver Island sitting on the horizon. The pavement wiggles and dips the whole way.

You cannot hurry this road.

How a newspaper column stopped a highway expansion

The land along M-119 is the ancestral homeland of the Odawa people, who called it L’Arbre Croche, meaning “crooked tree.”

The name came from a distinctively shaped tree on the bluff that canoe travelers used as a landmark.

In 1936, a preservationist named Alice Irwin used her statewide newspaper column to fight plans to widen and develop the road. She took the campaign all the way to the state legislature and won.

Today the route runs through a partnership that includes the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians and Emmet County.

Walk the cedar swamps at Thorne Swift Nature Preserve

About four miles northwest of Harbor Springs, a 30-acre preserve sits just off M-119 along Lower Shore Drive, with 950 feet of Lake Michigan frontage and 300 feet of public beach.

Three short trails wind through cedar swamps, hardwood forest, and shifting dunes, covering about 1.5 miles in total.

Most of the trails are wheelchair accessible, with boardwalks and observation platforms above the dunes and a small pond.

The Elizabeth Kennedy Nature Center inside the preserve has displays on the plants and wildlife you’ll see along the way.

Devil’s Elbow and the spirit at the spring

South of Good Hart, the road whips into a sharp hairpin turn called Devil’s Elbow.

A historical marker at the bend explains the Odawa tradition behind the name: according to the marker, local bands believed a flowing spring in the ravine below was home to spirits who made themselves known after dark.

Just beyond the curve, the road bends again into another tight turn called Horseshoe Bend.

The markers along the route went up in 1955, thanks to local resident Chauncey Bliss and the Harbor Springs Chamber of Commerce.

St. Ignatius Church and the 1700s burial ground

Just south of Good Hart, a white steeple breaks through the treeline.

St. Ignatius Church sits on a site the Odawa called Waganakising, or Middle Village, continuously occupied since at least the 1700s. French Catholic missionaries built a chapel here in 1741.

Bishop Frederic Baraga dedicated a church at the site in 1833.

The current structure went up in 1889 after a fire destroyed the earlier one on Easter Sunday, with much of the work done by local Odawa residents.

Beside the church, rows of small white crosses mark an Odawa burial ground dating to the 1700s.

The 1934 general store that still runs the post office

The Good Hart General Store sits right on M-119, a small red building that has been doing business since 1934. Cliff Powers built it as a grocery, butcher shop, and gas station.

Carolyn Sutherland bought it in 1971 and has kept it running ever since. Today it covers grocery, bakery, deli, and U.S. Post Office all under one roof.

The original tinted front windows are still there, along with glass-front counter bins and a 1901 National Cash Register. It’s the kind of place you stop at even if you don’t need anything.

The site where Odawa nations once held council

About four miles north of Good Hart, a marker stands at the site of what was once called the Old Council Tree. This was a meeting place where the Odawa and neighboring nations gathered for tribal councils.

The whole stretch between Harbor Springs and Cross Village once ran alongside a string of Odawa camps and villages along the Lake Michigan shore.

The marker is easy to miss if you’re watching the road, so watch for it on the left side heading north.

Trillium in spring, bare-limbed lake views in winter

Spring brings miles of white trillium across the forest floor, thick enough that some people call this stretch the Tunnel of Trillium. By summer, the canopy closes so completely that the sky overhead can vanish entirely.

Fall draws the biggest crowds, when the oaks, maples, and beeches turn red, orange, and gold across those 20 miles of bluff. Winter is the road’s best-kept secret.

With the leaves gone, the lake opens up all the way to the horizon, and you see angles of the bluff that stay hidden the rest of the year.

Cross Village: one of Michigan’s oldest settlements

Cross Village sits at the northern end of the drive and has been continuously occupied longer than almost anywhere else in Michigan. Odawa and Ojibwa people lived here well before European contact.

Local tradition holds that French missionary Father Jacques Marquette planted a white cross on the bluff here before his death in 1675.

A replica of that cross still stands at the edge of the village today, overlooking the lake. The village is small, and the drive ends here, but the view from the bluff makes the whole 20-mile run worth it.

Legs Inn and the stove legs on the roofline

At the end of the drive stands one of Michigan’s most talked-about landmarks.

Polish immigrant Stanley Smolak arrived in the United States in 1912 and settled in Cross Village in 1921.

In the 1930s, he enlisted local Odawa residents and neighbors to help him build the inn from timber and stones gathered nearby.

Smolak carved tree roots, limbs, and driftwood into furniture and decorations he called “nature’s oddities.” The name comes from the inverted cast-iron stove legs that line the roofline.

The Smolak family still runs it today, serving pierogi, kielbasa, and stuffed cabbage.

What to know before you point north on M-119

Fill up the tank in Harbor Springs. There are no gas stations between there and Cross Village, and no EV charging stations either.

The road is not built for RVs or large vehicles. Cyclists use it too, so slow down before blind curves.

Nearly all the land along the route is private property, so stick to the designated pulloffs. Weekdays are quieter than weekends, and fall color season brings the heaviest traffic.

Winter is open and drivable, and it’s usually one of the first state highways plowed each season.

Drive the Tunnel of Trees Scenic Heritage Route in Michigan

You can pick up M-119 in Harbor Springs, which sits just off US-31 east of Petoskey. The 20-mile route runs north through Emmet County to Cross Village, where county road C-77 connects you onward.

The route is open year-round. If you want to keep going after Cross Village, Wilderness State Park sits nearby, covering more than 10,000 acres with 26 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline, over 20 miles of trails, and dark sky status that makes it one of the best stargazing spots in the state.

From there, Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island are a short drive east.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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