Sleeping Bear Inn Garages

The dune rides were family fun.

NPS credit

Quick Facts

Amenities

2 listed

Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Wheelchair Accessible

Six years after Day's death, his daughter Marion and her husband Louis Warnes began running Dunesmobile rides out of Glen Haven. It started with a 1934 Ford which took four people out to the crest of the dunes and back. It was a thrilling 35-minute ride that took passengers to the crest of the dunes and back for 25 cents each. By the time the rides ended in 1978, there were 13 dunes wagons each carrying 14 passengers on a 12 mile, 35-minute excursion.

The rides were treated as both a thrill ride and an informational tour. After several years, dunesmobile rides began to attract attention from all around the Midwest. For over 40 years the Dunesmobiles rode over one of the most breathtaking landscapes in the world, bringing those too young, old, or lazy to walk closer to the spectacular beauty of the Sleeping Bear.

Everyone wanted to be a dunesmobile driver; many past drivers remember it as their favorite job. These chauffeurs were hired to drive the vehicles and ensure that no foolhardy risks were taken. The Sand Dunes Rides operated from Glen Haven and were headquartered at the general store. The dunesmobiles were stored in this carriage house and the drivers and other hired help from the inn stayed in the rooms above.

Concerns for the health of the dune ecosystem and of erosion led to the end of the dune rides in 1978.

Read more about the dunesmobiles and watch a video about Dunesmobile No. 9 at Leelanau.com

A wayside entitled "Taking a spin on the dunes," illustrates the dunemobile days.