The Steichens have boated around both Lake Leelanau and Lake Michigan for years, amazed at the lack of crowds even on the Fourth of July, often finishing the day by tying up their boat on the Leland River and having dinner at the Bluebird, a revered local restaurant.  “My children are now in their early-to-mid-20s,” Dr. Steichen said, “and they look back on that time growing up there as really the best part of their lives.”  Until recently, the Steichens kept a cottage, as Michiganders call small summer houses, on Lake Leelanau, as well as a patch of land on Lake Michigan, only to sell both and buy a three-bedroom house with 200 feet of frontage on Lake Michigan, separated from Route M-22 by a large pine forest. Although Dr. Steichen shied from discussing the price he paid, local real estate agents say family-size houses on either lake generally start at $1 million.  For all the sun and sand that provide a great deal of Leland’s cachet, they are not its defining symbols, nor is the silver-green local fish called chub that is depicted on hats at Harbor House Trading Company on Main Street. (One slogan: “Got chub?”)  More than anything, the township’s key feature is Fishtown, a collection of weathered century-old fishing shacks camped around the Leland River where it meets Lake Michigan. Though battered old fishing boats with names like Far-Fetched and Sea Witch are still available for hire, many of Fishtown’s shacks are now home to shops like the Village Cheese Shanty, which makes sandwiches and sells venerated Michigan beers like Bell’s Oberon.  Outside Fishtown, there are small shops like Leelanau Books and a few artists’ studios, as well as a coffee bar, a historical museum and, tellingly, several real estate firms. For dinners and breakfasts, many families, like the Steichens, make a tradition of eating at the Bluebird, a 74-year-old restaurant that offers up 22 desserts with its brunch buffet on weekends.  And if Leland starts to feel a bit too small, there is the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, a stunning collection of towering sand bluffs, just 15 miles down Route M-22.  Leland is far from many places, but hardly isolated. The peninsula on which it sits, abutting one side of Grand Traverse Bay to the east, is a growing place where vineyards are arriving rapidly among the cherry orchards, and nearby towns are hustling to build up restaurants and condominiums along their waterfronts.  Still, it’s the very opposite of frenetic. “We have, I think, two stop lights in the entire county,” said David Shiflett, a Leelanau County commissioner.  For those looking for a four-season resort, Leland may not be ideal. The best weather months are typically from May through September; several shops are open only then.  On the topic of stores, Leland has few besides the groceries at the Leland Mercantile Company on Main Street, and many homeowners make the 27-mile trip down the peninsula to Traverse City, which has about 15,000 people and a branch of Meijer, a homegrown Michigan superstore.  Mark Carlson, a real estate agent and manager of the Leland office of Coldwell Banker Schmidt Realtors, said Leland essentially has four types of properties, with varying degrees of cost and no set architectural style.  First in price and demand are beachfront and waterfront houses and lots; whether they are on Lake Leelanau or Lake Michigan, price per frontage foot remains basically the same, with a range of $2,500 to $12,500 and total prices from $1 million to $5 million, Mr. Carlson said. Then there are houses with water or sunset views, followed by inland properties that contain small farms or vineyards, which start at around $4,000 per acre, though vineyards can bring as much as $10,000. Last, there are the houses and bungalows within Leland itself, not on the water or in view of it but a short walk away, which start at around $250,000.  “There are other properties, and less expensive properties,” said Perry Pentiuk, who owns Venture Properties in Leland. “But if someone says, ‘I want to buy a lake lot for $250,000,’ I’m going to be really hard pressed to find them something on any lake. That’s the fact: Leelanau County, it’s expensive here.”  Despite an economic slowdown in Michigan, the market in Leland has not taken a hit, said Tim Schaub, an owner of the Schaub Team of ReMax Bayshore Properties in Traverse City, with sales up roughly 5 percent over 2006. Vacant lots on the water are desirable, and if an out-of-town buyer purchases a small cottage on a waterfront lot, the cottage is sometimes demolished.  Those out-of-town clients, Mr. Carlson said, represent most of the local customer base. He added that the amount of time a house remains on the market varies greatly, though the premium houses on Lake Michigan or Lake Leelanau tend to be snatched up if they are not grossly overpriced.  POPULATION 2,134, according to a 2006 Census Bureau estimate.  SIZE 45.6 square miles of land.  LOCATION Leland is on Michigan’s Leelanau Peninsula in the northwestern corner of the state’s lower peninsula.  WHO’S BUYING Families from Detroit, Grand Rapids and Chicago are prime movers, ranging from auto workers to professionals.  GETTING THERE Leland is about 30 miles from the Cherry Capital Airport in Traverse City, which has regular flights to Chicago, Detroit and Minneapolis. If you’re driving, Detroit is 280 miles away and Chicago is about 350.  WHILE YOU’RE LOOKING It’s hard to get more central than the Falling Waters Lodge in Fishtown (200 West Cedar Street, 231-256-9832; www.fallingwaterslodge.com), over the Leland River’s waterfall with the Lake Michigan beach next door. Its 21 rooms and suites range from $69 to $179 a night.  A version of this article appears in print on , on Page F7 of the New York edition with the headline: A Lower Peninsula Spot Draws a Wider Crowd. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
Vacationers and second-home owners are attracted by this hamlet’s spirit-altering sunsets and a modest life of sand, trees and deep blue water.