18. Shorewood Cottage Community

Location: Shorewood Drive, Douglas
Date: 1902 – ongoing

A 27-acre property located on Lake Michigan, Shorewood is one of a number of planned resort communities in Michigan to have been established around 1900 as an urban response to the “back-to-nature” and Arts & Crafts movements. Shorewood’s planner, John Alvord, an engineer and partner of Daniel Burnham, used the naturalist planning approach of Frederick Law Olmstead by designing the roadways to be path-like and curved to suit the contours of the rolling dunes. Original emphasis was on the use of natural building materials and in a scale and style fitting to the landscape. All but three of the original 26 cottages were built between 1902 and 1930. Shorewood is a private association.