Please note that location entries may feature older photos or post card views that may not represent the current appearance, features, addresses, phone numbers, or contact names of the attraction. This site is intended to be a historical as well as current record of various attractions but it is not always possible to have up-to-date information due to the vast number of locations featured here. We ask you consult the propietor for current information.
More than 100 years ago, Point West’s peninsula was a summertime drawing card for families seeking respite from the rigors of city life. Its narrow streets bustled with horse-drawn carriages, carting cottagers to summer resorts that celebrated soothing sand and sunsets. For decades, the area was anchored by the elegant 5-story Macatawa Hotel, which drew tourists with its bowling alley, dance hall, hillside observatory, boat livery and more.
Summer residents around the 1900 mark included none other than famed storyteller L. Frank Baum, whose surviving relatives maintain that he wrote “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” based on scenes and personalities culled from time spent at Macatawa.
With the advent of the automobile, vacation patterns changed, and the Macatawa Park resort gave way to fine dining in the form of Point West Inn, which was a regional destination until the early 1990s.
The next chapter in Macatawa Park history is now being written. The plot revolves around 24 lucky homeowners in a community of modern luxury cottages designed for those with discerning taste and a hunger for special, unique, whimsical. Can you picture yourself in that story?