Portal:Michigan highways/Selected article/December 2013
M-209 was a state trunkline highway in the Lower Peninsula. It was located in Leelanau County in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Until it was decommissioned, it was Michigan's shortest state highway. M-209 started at M-109 and went 0.543 miles (0.874 km) or just 956 yards (874 m) to Glen Haven. The trunkline ran past such attractions as the restored General Store and Blacksmith Shop. Also located in Glen Haven is the former Glen Haven Canning Co. building. This building was first used as a warehouse and later as a cannery for cherries in the 1920s. It has since been restored as the Cannery Boathouse displaying historic wooden boats used in the Manitou Passage between Glen Haven, Glen Arbor and the North and South Manitou Islands. The northern terminus of M-209 was located in front of the former U.S. Coast Guard Life Saving Station, now restored as a maritime museum. In 1996, M-209's designation was decommissioned, and the road was turned over to the jurisdiction of the Leelanau County Road Commission. Since the transfer, M-212 in Cheboygan County is now the shortest highway in the state. The entire highway is a paved two-lane road. (more...)