Before arriving in Saugatuck, you will make a pitstop in the rural town of Fennville, Michigan, to a cider house and farm that feels more like the French countryside than western Michigan. Once you exit Blue Star Highway you’ll drive through winding dirt roads for 10 minutes until arriving at the picturesque Virtue Cider.
You’ll notice three towering cider houses where local apples are hand-pressed, fermented and barrel-aged before being bottled for distribution. The architecture emulates the Norman French style of cider houses and is an homage to founder Greg Hall’s time spent abroad in France learning the ancient tradition of cider making.
Between the cider houses, a dirt path leads into a beautiful grassy meadow dotted with picnic tables, Adirondack chairs and firepits. Along the edge of the lawn are various small greenhouses — no doubt a commodity in the wintertime to provide a heated outdoor dining experience. The greenhouses also open during warmer seasons and are cutely furnished with wooden tables and flowers.
Not only is Virtue an award-winning cider house, but it’s also a 48-acre working farm, complete with walking trails and farm animals. Chickens roam freely across the lawn, a large wired hutch houses rabbits of varying sizes, and if you venture down one of the farm trails, you will find a pig pen full of Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs. A bit of fun folklore: Their spots are said to be bruises caused by apples falling from the trees in the orchards where the pigs grazed.
Greg Hall founded Virtue in 2011 after a 25-year tenure as a brewmaster at Goose Island Beer Company in Chicago. His father founded Goose Island, and after years of helping grow the family business, Greg wanted to break off and make his mark in cider making. He spent his childhood summers vacationing in southwest Michigan, and it was a bonus the climate makes for one of the best cider-producing regions in the world. Fennville’s natural characteristics, including ample rainfall and glacial sandy soil, have earned it an American Viticultural Area (AVA) designation.
Virtue specializes in the farmhouse style of cider popularized in England and France and adheres to the tradition of aging apples in their own barrels, setting themselves apart from the vast majority of American cider makers. They are also unique in that they only use Michigan apples in their ciders and never add any sugar during the process, so you can have a couple of glasses and feel like you’re supporting the community and your health (right?).
Virtue offers tours and guided tasting events through their website if you want to learn even more about their cider. They serve a variety of ciders on tap in the barrel house — go with one of their best-sellers like The Mitten (a bourbon-barrel-aged cider with notes of cherry and vanilla) or Le Beret (a raspberry cider with notes of stone fruit and hibiscus flower).
Nine miles north of Virtue is bustling downtown Saugatuck. Get there by taking M-89 to Blue Star Highway to Lake Street which leads you directly into downtown. Upon arriving you will understand why it’s been voted one of “America’s Coolest Small Towns.”
Nestled along the Kalamazoo River is a main drag of amazing restaurants, shops and art galleries as well as a boardwalk and waterfront bars. Rainbow crosswalks are an ode to the strong LGBTQ+ history and allyship of Saugatuck. In the 1950s, The Elms Hotel was among the first to rent rooms to male couples, and in 1981, Carl and Larry Gammons founded The Douglas Dunes resort, which remains one of the largest LGBTQ+ friendly resorts in the country.
There are a number of hotel and rental options in the downtown Saugatuck area, including the charming European-style Belvedere Inn for a higher-end stay or the Ship-N-Shore hotel for a unique waterfront experience. Once settled in, head to the iconic restaurant The Butler for delicious American fare and more waterfront views.
The building that would later become The Butler was first built in 1892 as a steam-powered grist mill. In the early 1900s, it was turned into a summer resort, and it remained one until Verser and Pat White bought it, shut down the hotel portion and reopened it as The Butler restaurant in 1972. The historic, family-owned eatery specializes in American pub fare and fresh seafood, but it’s most known for its Butler Burger. The signature burger comes on a sesame bun and is topped with black forest ham, American cheese, lettuce and mayo.
In 2021, RedWater Restaurant Group purchased The Butler, causing fear in locals that the family-owned institution would lose its homey charm. It’s been three years, and the restaurant remains a popular outpost in town, now with a new and improved two-story waterfront patio built in 2022.
Grab a seat on the patio and order from The Butler’s long list of cocktails as you watch boats go up and down the river. In just a short time, it will be you on the boat, enjoying a post-dinner sunset cruise on the Kalamazoo River.
After dinner at The Butler, walk along Water Street to catch the Star of Saugatuck’s sunset cruise that leaves from the dock at 8:30 p.m. Check their website in advance to see the boat’s schedule and to reserve your tickets, though you can usually purchase tickets in person on the day-of as well.
Now that you’ve seen Saugatuck by land, it’s time to enjoy the views from the water. The two-level boat is an authentic sternwheeler paddleboat and is propelled by a large red paddle wheel at the back of the vessel.
The cruise begins up the Kalamazoo River into Lake Kalamazoo where you’ll see the bustling waterfront strip of Saugatuck, you then travel back down the river and into beautiful Lake Michigan where you’ll view a breathtaking sunset over the water before heading back to the dock.
This is the perfect romantic activity, but you will also see lots of families and groups of friends on the popular cruise. The upper deck offers a bar and concession stand if you’re interested in a soft drink or a glass of wine or beer with your sunset viewing.
Along the way, you will learn about Saugatuck’s history and some of the landmarks along the water. One of note is the Saugatuck Chain Ferry, a hand-cranked ferry that has carried passengers across the Kalamazoo River since 1838. For $3, you can take the 3-minute ride across the river from downtown Saugatuck to attractions on the other side of the river including Oval Beach and Mount Baldhead.
