Old Mission Peninsula · Grand Traverse County History
The estate at Bowers Harbor on Old Mission Peninsula was built for Charles Stickney, who co-founded a Chicago canning business, and his wife Jennie, who bought an earlier farmhouse on the site in 1909; the Stickneys built the present summer house after the farmhouse's 1927 chimney fire. The building occupied a promontory on the peninsula, with views of West Arm Grand Traverse Bay, and served as the Stickneys' summer retreat. The family installed an elevator in the structure — a detail that has been consistently misattributed in popular legend but is documented by historian Julie Schopieray to have been installed for Charles Stickney, who used a wheelchair in his later years.
Schopieray's research, published in Michigan Country Lines Magazine, corrected several long-running errors in the Bowers Harbor haunting legend. The popularized version described Genevieve Stickney growing obese, becoming housebound, and being cut out of her husband's will in favor of a nurse. In fact, Jennie Stickney died of heart disease, diabetes, and possible dementia in March 1947. The couple had employed a widowed nurse to care for them as they aged, and both husband and wife grew close to the nurse and her children. Jennie did not die by suicide; the elevator was for Charles, not Jennie. The legend, while compelling, substantially misrepresents the documented history.
The property operated as the Bowers Harbor Inn — a restaurant and small lodging house — for much of the 20th century. Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, one of Michigan's most recognized craft breweries, is now the public restaurant in the building, operating first come, first served; Mission Table now hosts only private events there.
Sources
- https://www.countrylines.com/featured-2/the-truth-behind-the-ghost-of-bowers-harbor/
- https://99wfmk.com/bowers-harbor-inn-haunted/
- https://midwestwanderer.com/bowers-harbor-inn-traverse-city-two-restaurants-and-a-ghost/
- https://porchdrinking.com/articles/2019/10/29/exploring-the-haunted-history-of-jolly-pumpkins-traverse-city-location/
ApparitionsObject movementPhantom smellsResidual haunting
The ghost of Bowers Harbor is well-known to staff at Mission Table and Jolly Pumpkin — known enough that the stories are passed along during orientation, though the specific paranormal accounts are not part of formal training materials.
The most photographically specific account involves a patron who was looking into a gilded-edge mirror in the dining room and noticed a woman in the background of the reflection. The figure was blurry but visible enough to photograph. The woman's hair was pulled back in a bun, a style consistent with photographs of Jennie Stickney. No woman matching the description was present in the room.
Additional accounts include pans that have dropped from their hanging positions without obvious cause, faucets found running after the space has been confirmed empty, and a general sense of presence that long-term employees describe as benign and associated with a woman.
Housing historian Julie Schopieray has noted that the popular legend around the Bowers Harbor haunting — which involves a bitter, jealous spirit — does not align with the documented historical record of Jennie Stickney. If Jennie's presence persists at the property, the evidence suggests a figure who loved the estate rather than one embittered by it.
Notable Entities
Jennie Stickney
