“This inn was here since 1866. It was built in 1866, It is the oldest inn in the National Park Service in the United States today. So it predates the creation of Yellowstone Park by six years. It’s always been an inn. It’s never been anything different than an inn, but it sat vacant for 50 years,” said innkeeper Maggie Kato.
Maggie and Jeff Kato retired from the Habitat for Humanity in Genesee County in 2010, but knew they weren’t done with their work of giving back to the community.
“We had known of this inn. We saw an article that said, you could be the innkeeper of this inn in 2017, and that sparked our interest. We didn’t think, when we dreamed about retirement that it would be this project, but we are really grateful and humbled to be part of it,” said Maggie.
And it took a long time. Because the inn is part of the National Lakeshore, there were a lot more rules and regulations to go through working with the Federal Government before anything could be done, making it a three year journey.
“They own the building, We have a 40 year lease that we created for this. And I think what they saw in us was, Jeff had restaurant management background. I had, administrative background. We had, brought our construction supervisor from habitat into the project as well, probably the best builder in all of Michigan. He redid this this entire in single handedly. We brought in the trades, but he he did that. And then we had a bank partner willing to to lend us money on no collateral whatsoever. And we also raised about $400,000 philanthropically. So many people are vested into this project, not just us,” Kato said.
And in April of 2022, Maggie and Jeff were able to finally sign a lease for the Sleeping Bear Inn, allowing them to jump into renovations.
“It was it was pretty, but it needed a lot of work, and they needed a lot of work,” said Jeff Kato.
“It was not the worst project we had ever done. We had done lots of rehab in Flint, and we felt it was in very good shape. We didn’t find anything surprising. We found only things that we knew were going to be there,” said Maggie.
In doing the reconstruction, the most important part to the Kato’s was staying true to the character of the original Inn.
“Outside of it is in that very same state, and the porch is 100% what it was prior. We made sure that was all done. So we restored that 100%. The footprint of this first floor is exactly the same. We didn’t change anything about the trajectory of the bathrooms in order to provide for accessibility. So as you walk into these rooms, these are the rooms that were here since 1866,” said Maggie.
Bringing the Sleeping Bear Inn back to life in Glen Haven has brought a new spark into the community.
“We formed a nonprofit in order to do this work that was important to us. So we have a board of directors as well from the local community. We always saw the inn as an economic generator for the rest of Glen Haven. In order for Glen Haven to stay sustainable and meaningful, we want generations to come after us and enjoy this inn as it was for the future. And so that was very important for us and the nonprofit holds the lease for 40 years,” Maggie Kato said.
A stay at the Sleeping Bear Inn is one you’ll never forget, and you’ll want to keep coming back to.
“I hope that they feel a step back in time, a quieter time. We don’t have TV here. We have this beautiful lake shore. We hope people will experience what this nature has for, for us, this the the beauty of this area, the quietness and peacefulness of the inn. And that’s what we hope that people walk away with,” said Maggie.