A few weeks ago, a New York Times travel article caught my eye: “As American As Cherry Pie,” by Ann Patchett, one of my favorite authors. Bel Canto and The Magician’s Assistant, the two books of Ms. Patchett’s I’ve read, had me riveted and, in appropriate places, in tears. Man, does that woman know how to weave a yarn, create characters you swear you’ve known a lifetime, and evoke a strong sense of place. The thick rugs in the mansion in Bel Canto? I could feel the fibers on the backs of my legs, as if I, too, were sitting with the hostages, fidgeting and sweating.
Cover of "Harbor Springs, Petoskey and Bay View" by Mike Barton, with Mary Agria and Stafford Smith
I’ve wandered around Petoskey, Michigan, a couple of times and driven through several more, and Patchett captures the feel of the place just as you’d expect she would. The fruit and vegetable stands that line the roads, the gingerbreaded Victorian homes of the former Methodist camp at Bay View, freshly-baked, sticky fruit pies, the sudden and overwhelming desire to find a way to earn a living in–or retire to–the area.
Patchett writes that she first came to Petoskey for a signing at independent bookseller McLean & Eakin in 2001, admittedly under duress from her publicist. But she returned again and again, eagerly. During one visit she stayed at Stafford’s Perry Hotel, a place I’ve also spent the night–and sat in a rocker among the huge geraniums on the porch, ate pizza in the subterranean Noggin Room pub, and from which I’ve ogled the sunset over Little Traverse Bay.
- Model of the Perry Hotel, photo courtesy of the hotel
During my stay at the Perry, I also returned to the second floor several times to see an intriguing miniature of the hotel, encased in glass and sitting atop an antique piano. Even the green of the model’s grounds matched the Perry Green wall paint throughout the hotel. On assignment at the time, I tracked down the model-maker, a man named David Kaplan, a high-school teacher living near Washington, D.C.
Back then–this would have been around 1999 or 2000–Kaplan told me he had been inspired to build the model after repeated visits in the 1990s. He had once built a model of the high school where he taught, and he loved watching people’s reactions. “Teachers who taught there for years would say, ‘I never knew the school had a courtyard.’ They just walked from their classroom to the office and that’s it,” he said.
Equipped with photographs and blueprints, Kaplan got to work on the mini-Perry. After “marathon sessions” totaling hundreds of hours and $150 or so in supplies, he brought the finished piece up to the Perry and presented it to owner, Stafford Smith, in late 1997. It’s been displayed ever since. The hotel’s general manager told me a couple of days ago that now the model sits near the front desk.
Kaplan said he’d traveled extensively and had been considering retiring to Boulder or Portland, Oregon, but his real dream was to settle in Petoskey. “The water looks like the Caribbean. The town is clean and orderly. The people are appreciative. They’re not on guard–it’s that Midwestern hospitality. The air is clean, and it’s safe at night. It’s a Small Town, America, that seems to be working. You can see the stars at night. Twenty years ago I had other things on my mind, but as you get older, you start cherishing the simple things,” he’d said when we spoke by phone more than a decade ago.
I googled Kaplan shortly after I read Patchett’s Times piece and smiled when I saw the search results. He seems to have made the move up north and is hopefully living his dream, full-scale.
P.S. I promised to mention whenever I didn’t pay my own way for something. The publication I was writing for at the time covered the cost of one night’s accommodation at the Perry.
