thumb|right|250px|The [[45th parallel north|45th parallel marker along M-22]]
Suttons Bay Township is a civil township and county seat of Leelanau County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,883 at the 2020 census.
The village of Suttons Bay is located within the township along Grand Traverse Bay.
In a 2004 referendum, voters approved moving the county seat from the community of Leland to a site in section 19 in the southwest corner of the township, nearer to the geographic center of the county. Suttons Bay Township is the only civil township to serve as a county seat in the state of Michigan.
Communities
- Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians headquarters are located within Suttons Bay Township with a small reservation in the northeast portion of the township near Peshawbestown.
- Lake Leelanau is an unincorporated community and census-designated place partially within Suttons Bay Township. The majority of the community is to the west in Leland Township.
- Peshawbestown is an unincorporated community along M-22 in the northern portion of the township.
- Suttons Bay is a village within the township.
History
In 1854, Harry Chittenden Sutton and his crew established a wooding station to provide fuel to wood-burning steamboats. The Sutton name first caused the village to be called Suttonsburg. Pleasant City was another name, but Suttons Bay was later adopted for this growing community.
Railroads played an important role in the development of the area. Running through Suttons Bay, the train passed near the site of Sutton's station and the community's next enterprise, a sawmill built by Sutton's son-in-law, George Carr, and connected to Fountain Point, an historic resort site.
The township also includes the small Ojibwe community of Peshawbestown, also known as Eagletown. Once a Franciscan mission named after Chief Peshaba, who ruled in the 1880s, this community has grown to include a casino and resort.
Other features of Suttons Bay Township include Lake Leelanau on its southwestern corner, which can be accessed by taking M-204 west to the community of Lake Leelanau, where the channel runs between Lake Leelanau's upper and lower lakes. This township is also prime cherry country, with several orchards and wineries among its hills.
The township contains Fountain Point, which was built in 1889 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of , of which is land and (41.47%) is water.
The 45th parallel runs through Suttons Bay Township with a marker along M-22. The township is bordered on the east by the West Arm of Grand Traverse Bay and partially by Lake Leelanau on the southwest.
Major highways
- runs south–north along the coast of Grand Traverse Bay
- runs east–west through the township beginning in the village of Suttons Bay
Demographics
As of the census