Stony Point peninsula is still home to mostly orchards in its upland areas, although virtually all of its waterfront has been developed. This picture was taken from Donnybrook Road looking north toward Peshawbestown.

Eighty-year-old Dorothy Chimoski doesn’t hold a grudge against people who slip an “e” in Stony Point.

In fact, depending if referring to the road or tip of the peninsula, they might be right.

“People can call it Stoney Point with an ‘e’ and it doesn’t bother me,” she said.

Turns out there is evidence for using both spellings. The Leelanau County plat map notes “Stony Point” at the northernmost tip of the peninsula that begins at about Smith Road heading east from Suttons Bay Village, and at some point along the shoreline gives way to Lee Point to the south.

But the road along the west side of “Stony Point” peninsula is spelled “Stoney Point Road.”

Confusing? Chimoski has a better name for the 1 1/2-mile-long peninsula separating Suttons Bay from West Grand Traverse Bay — home.

“It’s just home. I’ve got the view,” she said while looking through a picture window at the family farm toward deep blue Suttons Bay and the hills overlooking the village.

She’s watched her “home” change through the years as more and more people sought to share that breathtaking view. Very little of the frontage on Suttons Bay and West Grand Traverse Bay remains homeless save for a 66-acre parcel owned by Karen Drake south of the Chimoski farm. So far much of the upland areas of Stony Point peninsula remain in orchards.

3 generations of Chimoskis

Chimoski’s view across the Suttons Bay has changed more dramatically.

“It use to be just trees and a couple houses, but it’s all condos now,” she said, peering toward Suttons Bay Village. “You’re looking out at it, and it looks like a big city.”

While Suttons Bay Village is developing quickly, not all of Stony Point may be destined for development. Chimoski’s son and daughter-in-law, Victor and Noel, are running Chimoski Farms. They have no intention of selling, Dorothy added.

In 1954 Dorothy Chimoski and her husband of seven years, Alfred, moved to Stony Point to help run the family orchard.

Alfred has now passed away. His grandfather, John Chimoski Sr., had purchased 40- and 38-acre parcels fronting Suttons Bay on July 13, 1896, for the then-reasonable price of $25.

It was a good buy, Dorothy Chimoski said, if for no other reason than for the lake lots which were each eventually sold for the original price of the entire property — $25.

“When they paid taxes on the place, it was ridiculous compared to what I pay now,” said Chimoski. She’s retained all the original family records including a receipt dated Dec. 13, 1901, showing property taxes of $2.56 paid on the 40 acres and another $2.37 for the 38 acres. The township collected a 5 cent fee, putting the entire bill at $4.98.

The tax bill was signed by an “L.E. Bahle,” then- treasurer of Suttons Bay township and the grandfather of current supervisor Richard Bahle.

The present-day Bahle also knows of two Stony Points — the one of his youth and the one where the sale of the first million-dollar home in Suttons Bay Township occurred.

“It was on Nanagosa Trail facing West Brand Traverse Bay,” Bahle said of the pricey exchange.

Bahle is old enough to also remember Stony Point as a quasi neighborhood playground for kids who grew up in the village.

“We would fish and play when we went on the Point. Most of it was inaccessible because of the bluffs or the woods. My mom had to make two phone calls if we rode our bikes to Stony Point.”

Seems the calls were placed to one home with two “German shepherds that would attack us if we went by;” the other was to the owner of a “rabid St. Bernard” farther down Stony Point Road.

Bahle also recalls “Vic Steimel,” a bachelor electrician and the original “mayor” of Stony Point. Steimel served as caretaker for an older gentleman who lived on Stony Point, and was awarded the man’s estate upon his death. Realizing that access was becoming a problem, Steimel in the 1960’s handed a 100-foot lot that came with the property over to the township. The parcel was officially proclaimed Vic Steimel Park in the 1970’s.

Dick and Kaye Nelson may have been spending summers in their vertical log cabin located about halfway out Stony Point Road when Bahle was bicycling by. The Nelsons had the 24- by 32 cabin and loft built on their 100-foot lot they bought for $2,250.

A company called Bellaire Log Homes did the work as the Nelsons called the shots. They pointed where windows and doors should be placed as nails were pounded and saws buzzed, and were ready to move in after just a few days.

There have been no expansions, no major renovations and definitely no attempt to add “conveniences” such as insulation to the cabin by the Nelson. How can you improve upon perfection?

“We don’t have a sailboat and we don’t have a big motor boat. We don’t have a telephone and we don’t have a post office box,” said Dick Nelson.

The cabin is a throwback in a neighborhood of expensive houses, but the Nelsons say its location offers all they need. They frequently share the cabin with friends and family, especially since retiring in 1986, while maintaining their “first” home in Grand Rapids.

What keeps them coming back to Stony Point each summer?

Part geography, part community.

“We go to all the ‘touristy’ things in town,” said Kaye.

Dick enjoys fishing for smallmouth bass in his 14-foot boat complete with 5 hp motor.

“We’ve got the big bay over there,” said Dick, pointing eastward over Stony Point, “with East Bay and West Bay and Old Mission Peninsula. And there,” he continued, pointing off the porch, “you have little Suttons Bay that is maybe 3 miles. You don’t hear motorboats buzzing by all the time, occasionally maybe a jet ski, so it’s generally pretty quiet.”

Like many residents, the Nelsons had to learn the hard way how Stony Point got its name. Years ago they tried to move some of the stones that dominate the lake bottom to create a sandy path to their shoreline.

“We could never keep up with them. We use to get them picked up, and the water would just put them back,” said Kaye.

In a similar encounter, Dorothy Chimoski tried to pick up rocks once when Alfred wanted to clear a path for a fishing boat. It turned out to be the closest she ever came to swimming in Suttons Bay.

Perhaps she was too busy tending to the family orchard. “We were always picking up stones. I used to pick up more rocks,” she said.

It’s not called Stony Point for nothing.