Old Mission Peninsula starts at the north edge of Traverse City and runs about 17 miles up the middle of Grand Traverse Bay, splitting it into the West Arm and the East Arm. It is only a few miles wide, so the water is never far away.
The whole peninsula is one township, Peninsula Township, with a little over 6,000 residents at the 2020 census. Most of it is orchards, vineyards and shoreline, and that is not an accident.
I'm Taylor Brown. My mom and business partner, Janel, and I sell homes all over Northern Michigan, and Old Mission is the place buyers ask about when they want the country and the bay at the same time, with downtown Traverse City still close.
Center Road. M-37 runs about 17 miles up the spine of the peninsula and ends at Mission Point. It is a state-designated scenic byway, now part of the Pure Michigan Byways program, and it is how most people first see Old Mission.
Mission Point Lighthouse: At the tip, the Mission Point Light was first lit in 1870, just south of the 45th parallel. It was taken out of service in 1933. The township owns it now, and you can climb the tower and walk through the museum.
Where the name comes from: In 1839 the Presbyterian missionaries Peter Dougherty and John Fleming started a mission near the tip, the oldest permanent settlement in the Grand Traverse Bay region. When the mission moved across the bay to Omena in 1852, the original site became Old Mission.
Farms and wineries. Old Mission is its own federally recognized wine region, the Old Mission Peninsula American Viticultural Area, best known for Riesling, with around a dozen wineries. Cherry orchards cover much of the rest.
What buyers should know.
The farmland is protected on purpose: Township voters created a purchase of development rights program in 1994 and have renewed it since, most recently in 2022. It has permanently protected more than 3,000 acres of farmland. That keeps the views open, and it also means buildable land does not come up often.
No whole-home short-term rentals: Peninsula Township's zoning requires a 30-day minimum to rent a home that the owner does not live in. Outside a few narrow exceptions, like a licensed owner-occupied bed and breakfast, short stays are not allowed. If rental income is part of your plan, Old Mission is the wrong place, and our STR Checker shows the rules for the rest of the region.
Taxes depend on how you use it: If the home will be your primary residence, file for the Principal Residence Exemption, which drops up to 18 mills of school operating tax. On the 2025 rates that meant about 27.2 mills for a primary home on the peninsula against about 45.2 for a second home. Our payment calculator shows both side by side.
Why our experience matters here. A lot of Old Mission property is waterfront, farmland or land under a conservation easement, and on those the easement terms can matter as much as the house. We read those documents with you and pull the right comparable sales, so you know what you are buying before you are committed.
Come see it. The best way to understand Old Mission is to drive Center Road with someone who knows it. Reach out and we'll take that drive together, all the way to the lighthouse, and talk through whether the peninsula is the right fit.
Janel & Taylor Brown
The Brown Team | Real Estate One
(231) 360-1510
