It's an archetypical "Leelanau" village.

A 1880 schedule of the City of Grand Rapids shows
that the steamer provided service to several communities,
including Norwood and Northport. Other ships shuttling
between the two communities included the Sunny Side,
Lake Breeze, Crescent and Lou A. Cummings.

And it’s not even in the county, although it was once more closely connected with Northport than was, say, Glen Arbor, Good Harbor, or even Leland. We’re talking about the village of Norwood, located in southeastern Charlevoix County.

Norwood, established in 1867, is located on the eastern shoreline of Grand Traverse Bay, almost exactly opposite the tip of the Leelanau peninsula. When they were all in operation and conditions were right, villagers in Norwood could see the lights from four lighthouses – two of which were located in Leelanau County.

The Leelanau lighthouses were Grand Traverse Light, and the one on South Fox Island. Others visible from Norwood were the Old Mission lighthouse, and the one on the south end of Beaver Island.

Like several Leelanau communities, Norwood was established as a lumbering town and flourished and languished with that industry. It reached a peak population of about 400 in 1890 but has only about 90 residents today.

The common element was lumbering and the common connection was a maritime one. Norwood was regularly served by the steamers Sunny Side, City of Grand Rapids, and, later, the steamers Crescent and Lou A. Cummings, all of which were regular callers at Leelanau ports, too.

At least as early as 1880, “steamer time” between Norwood and Northport was an hour and a quarter. That’s less time than it would take, even today, to make the drive between the two communities by auto.

Norwood, like ports on the Lake Michigan side of Leelanau County, had in the days of the lake schooners the disadvantage of being on a windward shore. That made it difficult for the big sailing ships to operate without the aid of tugs in a strong onshore wind. And there were other natural impediments to safe navigation.

“During fall snows at Norwood,” a part-time resident, Ed Chase, recalled in 1952, “it was impossible to see very far on the lake, and one man used to go down to the shore and bang big planks to give the boats a directional noise to follow.”

It is probable that similar measures were undertaken in at least the smaller Leelanau ports. It has been recorded that a youthful David Henry Day, as “Dockmaster” at Glen Haven, sometimes literally crawled out to the end of the dock, in stormy weather, to set lanterns for approaching vessels.

From its very earliest days, Norwood was a quiet place. An article extolling the place in the Charlevoix Sentinel issue of July 10, 1869, reported “nobody dies; no accidents happen; no one gets drunk; we have no fights or street rows – not even a lawsuit, by way of variety.”

Everything was pictured as positively idyllic and the “school house is just receiving its last coat of paint, and we can now claim the largest and best one on this side of the Bay, between Traverse City and Mackinac.

“Though not quite as large as the Union school house at Northport, it is said to excel it in finish – the inside work being all birch and black ash, which make a very fine finish.”

Community rivalry, usually of a good nature, was common in the latter 19th century. Leelanau County was home to adventure author James Hendryx, and Norwood was able to claim Rex Beach, a near contemporary. Beach is credited with 27 novels, some of which were made into Hollywood films. He died in 1949 at age 72.

Norwood was also home to Jay Norwood “Ding” Darling, whose cartoons occasionally appeared in the Enterprise in the 1930s and ‘40s. He was not only a famous cartoonist, but a leading conservationist as well, and drew the first “duck stamp.”

He is probably best remembered today for the 5,000-acre wildlife sanctuary he helped to establish at Sanibel Island, Fla.

And Norwood was also home to the man who credited with establishing Michigan’s “state flower.” William Harris was Norwood’s first postmaster (1868) and was elected to the state House of Representatives three times for Manitou, Antrim and Charlevoix counties. (Manitou County, consisting of Lake Michigan islands, was later split between Leelanau and Charlevoix counties.)

In 1897, Harris presented a bill that was passed by both houses in Lansing which established the apple blossom as the state “flower.”

“The dramatic story of the settling of America may be best found on its back roads and in its tiny villages,” Glenn Ruggles wrote in the preface to Nancy Ritsema’s Norwood: A Legacy of Northwoods Living. “These villages are so numerous and seemingly insignificant as to be endless and nameless,” Ruggles continued. Nevertheless, “these towns with meaningful names and unique characteristics are the gems that make our nation shine. They are known as Alden, Horton Bay, Marion, Glen Arbor and Norwood.”

In the end, what may have saved the quaint nature of Norwood was the relocation of a federal highway. The “Dixie Highway” (U.S. 31), sometimes alluded to in 1930s issues of the Enterprise, skirted the lakeshore more closely than it does today but was moved eastward a few miles, thus taking Norwood “off the beaten track.”

The Dixie Highway, in this state, was also referred to as the West Michigan Pike. One of the pike’s staunchest proponents was our “Dockmaster” friend, D.H. Day.

But, it is the absence of busy highways, by and large, that helps to impart uniqueness to Leelanau County, with its own quiet, unhurried villages.

Time may not “stand still” in Leelanau and Norwood, but at least it doesn’t seem to move quite as fast.