The Cottage on Lake Michigan –- huge sand beach, wooded lot, family friendly

The Cottage is tucked on a wooded lot along the shores of Lake Michigan on scenic Glidden Drive. The family-friendly location features a large private sand beach and close access to hiking in the Shivering Sands Natural Area.

The Cottage has 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. It features an open kitchen, living and dining area with a wood-burning fireplace, gas furnace, ceiling fan and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Lake Michigan.

The kitchen (new in 2019) features a full-size refrigerator, stove and oven, microwave, coffee maker, toaster, blender and dining table. All pots, pans, plates, glasses, cutlery and everything else you'll need for cooking is there for you to use.

One bedroom has a queen-sized bed, the other has a full-size bed. Both beds have new mattresses, cotton sheets, a lightweight cotton blanket and a heavyweight down comforter.

Outside, enjoy a large front porch, a charcoal grill and plentiful opportunities for walking, sunbathing and swimming.

Sturgeon Bay (8 miles away) offers grocery stores, laundromats, a YMCA, museums, theaters, a boat launch and more. Fish Creek, Egg Harbor, Jacksonport, Bailey's Harbor and other towns are also close by. Enjoy shopping and sight seeing and then return to your own retreat on Door County's 'quiet side.'

Kid-friendly activities in Door County include pick-your-own berries and cherries, miniature golf, go karts, an old-time drive-in movie theatre, lighthouses, museums, horseback riding and lots of ice cream stops.

If your kids are older, bring your bicycles, as Whitefish Dunes State Park, Cave Point County Park and warm Clark’s Lake are all an easy 7-mile pedal from the Cottage.

Right at the Cottage, of course, you've got your own 'sand box' and a big 'swimming pool' right out your front door. You and the kids will enjoy building sand castles, collecting and painting rocks, catching crawfish in nearby Shivering Sands Creek, watching wildlife, flying kites and lots more.

In the evenings, build a fire in the outdoor fire pit and make s'mores or enjoy a fire and a board game inside. There's TV, cable, a DVD player and WiFi if you can't live without it, but you'll find lots of other things to do too.

The Cottage sits just outside the 485-acre Shivering Sands Natural Area, a property of the Door County Land Trust. The area, along Glidden Drive and south of Whitefish Dunes State Park, contains 19 natural landscapes, including dunes, kettles, swales, old and present shorelines, small lakes, streams, ponds, fens, bogs and forests. The area is recognized as an important bird habitat by the Audubon Society. There are marked hiking trails that you can enter in several places along Glidden Drive.

Boat launch opportunities: If you’re a boater, launch in Sturgeon Bay and choose between fishing the harbor, Green Bay or Lake Michigan. Or use Glidden Drive’s public Lake Michigan boat launch located just a few miles south of The Cottage.

The Cottage has been in our family since it was built more than 60 years ago. We started renting our family cottage in 2009, which has been a great success for us and for our visitors. It's a haven that we've chosen to share. Thank you and enjoy!