Holly
©
Holly

Holly

Small Michigan town with antique-lined streets, Battle Alley, and a storied old hotel.

Holly is a small Michigan town that feels like it never left the early 1900s. The downtown is packed with antique shops and local artists, and everybody seems to know everybody. You will find it right off I-75 at exit 102 -- head west into town, or east to Mt. Holly for skiing in winter.

The Holly Hotel on historic Battle Alley is the main draw: comedy club in the basement, elegant dining upstairs, and a reputation for being haunted. At Christmas the town puts on a festival with a tree lighting ceremony that suits the old-time architecture perfectly.

Late summer brings the Carry Nation Festival -- craft show, carnival for kids, and a beer tent for the grown-ups. Out on the edges of town, Seven Lakes State Park and the larger Holly Recreation Area give you a couple of thousand acres of woods, lakes, and trails to wander.

Guide

Getting There

By car. Holly sits right on I-75 at exit 101 (Grange Hall Road) and exit 102 (Holly Road). Detroit is 50 miles to the south, Flint 20 miles north, and Pontiac about 25 miles south-east. Most visitors arrive by car.

By air. Detroit Metropolitan (DTW), an hour to the south, is the nearest major airport. Flint Bishop (FNT) is closer, with limited domestic service.

By train. Amtrak's Blue Water service between Chicago and Port Huron stops in Flint and Pontiac, both within a half-hour drive of Holly. There is no passenger station in Holly itself any more, though the historic Holly Union Depot still stands downtown.

Guide

Things to Do

Holly is small — you can walk the whole downtown in twenty minutes — but a handful of sights are worth the detour. The historic block of Battle Alley, the haunted Holly Hotel, and the lakes and forests on the edge of town are the obvious draws.

Guide

When to Go

Holly has a year-round draw because of its location: lakes for the warm months, ski slopes and a particularly photogenic Christmas downtown for the cold.

Late summer through early autumn is the prettiest time. Temperatures sit in the 70s F (low-mid 20s C), the swimming and boating at Seven Lakes is at its peak, and Holly hosts the Carry Nation Festival in August — a craft show, kids' carnival, parade, and beer tent, named after the temperance crusader who once raided the Holly Hotel saloon. The Renaissance Festival in the Holly Recreation Area runs weekends from late August through early October.

Winter brings reliable snow for skiing at Mt. Holly and an old-fashioned Dickens-Festival Christmas in Battle Alley, with carolers in costume, horse-drawn carriages, and the tree lighting at the start of December. Layer up — January temperatures regularly drop below freezing.

Spring and early summer are quietest, with mild weather, blooming dogwood and lilac, and far fewer visitors at the state parks.