Petoskey

Resort town and seat of Emmet County, Michigan, USA, in the northern portion of the lower peninsula, at the mouth of the Bear River on Little Traverse Bay, Lake Michigan, 50 km/31 mi southwest of Mackinaw City; population (1990) 6,000. It has some light industry but mainly relies on year-round tourism; there are several ski developments in the area. Educational facilities include North Central Michigan College (1958). Petoskey stones, the petrified coral that are Michigan's state stone, can be found on the lakeshore around the town.

Settled in 1852, Petoskey originally developed as a lumber town; the settlement's St Francis Solanus Indian Mission (1859) still survives. The writer Ernest Hemingway had a vacation home on Walloon Lake, 6 km/4 mi to the south, and his memorabilia is displayed in Petoskey's Little Traverse Historic Museum. Beneath Little Traverse Bay lies the Skin Divers' Shrine, a submerged statue of Christ.