Though it doesn’t get a lot of positive press, Duluth (pop. 86,918) has to be one of the most beautiful and underappreciated travel destinations in the Midwest, “a Lilliputian village in a mammoth rock garden,” the old WPA Guide to Minnesota aptly noted. Gracefully etched into the side of tough, 800-foot granite slopes and gazing over the dark harbor hues, Duluth, from the attractively redone redbrick paving of gentrified Superior and Michigan Streets downtown to the grittier heights atop the bluff, quietly goes about its business, usually with foghorns belching in the background. It is a city of maritime and timber history, but it is a city of stunning, pervasive, pristine, healthy wilderness as well.
Tracts of forest, harbor preserves, shoreline, and parks flourish in the city, and there are dozens of interesting Great Lake or historical museums, mansions, lakefront walks, boat or foot tours, and festivals—from Native American powwows (mid- August) to midwinter dogsled races. Many visitors start at Duluth’s landmark, the Aerial Lift Bridge, a 385-foot-tall monster connecting the mainland to the mouth of the harbor. The waterfront around here has been gently redeveloped, with an Omnimax theater and the Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center (daily; free; 218/727-2497) within a short stroll. Best of all is another landmark of Great Lakes maritime industry, the truly huge hulk of the SS William A. Irvin (daily; $7; 218/722-7876), a former U.S. Steel ore ship that stretches over two football fields long.
The Aerial Lift Bridge over Duluth’s harbor can be raised 138 feet in under a minute in order to let ships pass underneath. When it’s down, cross the bridge and continue for a quarter mile for a real treat: a long, clean, sandy beach stretching along the shores of Lake Superior.
Another good stop, the St. Louis County Heritage and Arts Center, aka “The Depot,” across I-35 but walkably close to the waterfront at 506 W. Michigan Avenue, is an enormous, magnificently restored example of early city architecture as well as home to many of the city’s artistic and cultural centers. Around it are the historic locomotives of the Lake Superior Museum of Transportation, and two dozen shops re-creating early 20th-century Duluth, right down to the old ice cream parlor.
A fun and filling place to eat, Grandma’s Saloon (218/727-4192), at 522 S. Lake Avenue, serves up heaps of Italian-American food at the foot of the Aerial Lift Bridge. Stay overnight on the lakefront at the Inn on Lake Superior ($120 and up; 218/726-1111). For more information on Duluth, contact the main visitors center (218/722-4011 or 800/ 438-5884), located near the bridge at 100 Lake Place Drive. There’s also a ship watcher’s hotline (218/722-6489) if you want to head down to the harbor and check out the ore-boat traffic.
