Fremont · Waterfront
Waterfront in Fremont, Michigan
Know the water before you buy the view. I go and read the frontage, the bottom and the access myself.
The Honest Version First
Fremont is not a lakeshore town. It sits inland, in Newaygo County, east of the Lake Michigan shoreline, and I would rather say that on the first line than stretch the word waterfront over it.
What Fremont has is Fremont Lake, right by town, with a public beach, a play area, a campground, an ice cream shop and a boat launch. It is an inland lake and it behaves like one: contained, knowable, and a great deal quieter than the big lake in July.
If Great Lakes frontage is what you came for, this is the wrong town and I will point you west. If what you actually want is water you can walk to, without what water costs on the shoreline, this is a genuinely good answer and most people never look at it.
Where would you like to start?
What the Same Money Buys Here
This is the trade, and it is worth making on purpose rather than drifting into.
The same budget that gets you a modest cottage on the shoreline will generally get you a house with real acreage here. Not a bargain, a trade. You give up Great Lakes frontage and the weekend-town summer that comes with it, and you get ground, quiet and a shorter drive to a grocery store.
Which side of that suits you depends on what you want your Saturdays to look like, and it is a better conversation to have before you start looking than after four weekends of being quietly disappointed by what your number buys on the water.
Plenty of people who arrive asking for lakefront end up here. Not because they settled, but because what they actually wanted was space and a slower week, and the water was how they were describing it.
In their words
In their words
I had a very specific idea of what we wanted. An unspoiled piece of lakefront land on a wooded lot. I quickly learned that finding such a property is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Tamara diligently stayed on the search for our dream property and was always on the lookout for us... When that perfect property finally came up, Tamara knew it was the one. She called us from her car urging us to come up and see it immediately.
What I Check on an Inland Lake
Different water, same discipline. This is The Lakeshore Recon Method.
What is on the bottom where you would go in, because on an inland lake that varies enormously over a short distance and decides whether you swim off your own shore.
Usable frontage against the number on the listing, and where the lines run.
Depth at the dock, and what is permitted.
How much of the shore around you is built up, and how the lake feels in July rather than in the photographs.
The well and the septic, which on a lake lot is a question about where the drain field sits as much as about the system itself.
The road, and the road in winter.
The Town, and It Is More Than People Expect
Gerber started here in 1927. Dorothy Gerber was straining food for her seven-month-old daughter that summer, and her husband Daniel saw the family's Fremont Canning Company could do it at scale. It has been headquartered in Fremont ever since, which is why the July festival is officially the National Baby Food Festival, though everybody local calls it the Gerber Festival.
In her own words about Main Street: for a small, quiet town, there is actually quite a bit of business down that stretch. The Blind Squirrel Tavern has been there since 2011. Tamarac Wellness Center out on West Main has a heated pool and runs eighty-odd classes a week. Bellwether Harbor on 48th Street is a shelter and a training center, with washing stations you pay to use that fund the shelter.
The Harvest Festival comes round in late September, with a hay art competition you vote in by donating canned goods, all of which go to the True North Food Pantry.
More on the town is on the Fremont area page, land is at land in Fremont, and if it is Great Lakes frontage you want, start at buying waterfront.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Fremont on Lake Michigan?
No. Fremont is inland, in Newaygo County, east of the Lake Michigan shoreline, and I would rather be plain about that than stretch the word waterfront over it. What it has is Fremont Lake by town, with a public beach, a campground and a boat launch. If Great Lakes frontage is the point, this is not the town.
Why would I look at Fremont instead of the lakeshore?
Because the same budget that gets you a modest cottage on the shoreline will generally get you a house with real acreage here. It is a trade rather than a bargain: you give up Great Lakes frontage and get ground and quiet. Plenty of people who start out asking for lakefront end up here, because what they actually wanted was space and a slower week.
What is there to do in Fremont?
Fremont Lake has a public beach, a play area, a campground and a boat launch. In town there is a stretch of Main Street with more on it than people expect, the National Baby Food Festival in July, which everyone local calls the Gerber Festival, and the Harvest Festival in late September with its hay art competition you vote in by donating canned goods.
Fremont
What waterfront looks like in Fremont
Inland in Newaygo County, where Gerber started in 1927 and where the same money buys land instead of frontage. My office is here.
Fremont is the one town I cover that is not on the lakeshore, and I would rather say so plainly. It has Fremont Lake by town with a public beach, a campground and a boat launch, and M120 runs across to Twin Lake and on toward Muskegon.
The trade is the point. The same budget that gets you a modest cottage on the water will generally get you a house with real acreage here, which is why people who start out searching for lakefront often end up looking at this side of the map.
Waterfront: keep exploring
Ready to make your move with Tamara Hekkema?