The following is an excerpt from “Meet Me At The Dock in Greilickville, Grand Traverse Bay” by author Kathleen Firestone.
Copies of her books are available at local book stores or directly from her.
Seth Norris and his boys built the first bridge across Cedar Lake Creek, the stream that provided power for the Norris and Greilick endeavors. Knowing the need for leather goods, the Norris family opened their tannery for business in 1858, on the north side of the creek near the bay. Arriving pioneer farmers needed a place to grind their grain into flour, and in 1860, John and Charles Norris built a grist mill, just west of the tannery and across the creek from the Greilick sawmill, which became the center of business for nearby and outlying settlers and gained the name of Norristown.
