interlochen is a town in northwest lower michigan. the town is noted for the internationally renowned interlochen center for the arts. ==history== before the arrival of european settlers, members of the odawa tribe lived between the lakes they called wahbekaness and wahbekanetta (now named duck lake and green lake, respectively). beginning in the late 19th century, european settlers began logging and fishing industries in the area. as the lumber industry grew, the area became more deforested, until in 1917 the state of michigan purchased the remaining virgin pines and created interlochen state park, the first state park in michigan. in 1928, the national high school orchestra camp was founded at interlochen and evolved to become interlochen center for the arts, which includes a summer camp as well as a fine arts boarding high school and public radio station. ==geography== as the name suggests, interlochen is situated between the two lakes of the original odawa settlement. it is approximately 14 miles southwest of traverse city at , and sits at an elevation of 841 feet above sea level. the fips place code is 40800. ==climate== interlochen lies close to the 45th parallel north, approximately halfway between the equator and the north pole. it therefore experiences typical northern michigan weather: very cold in the winter, and very warm in the summer. interlochen is close enough to lake michigan that it experiences heavy lake-effect snow, but not close enough to be cooled by the great lake's breeze, furthering the extremes of the winter and summer seasons. however, other lake-effect precipitation in the summer is also present, causing lush greenery and magnificent thunderstorms, and making interlochen picturesque in the summer as well as in the winter. ==demographics== according to the census of 2000, there were 5,002 people, 1,977 households, and 1,678 families residing in the interlochen zip code tabulation area (49643), which also includes most of inland township as well as portions of almira and colfax townships in benzie county along with the western portion of green township and the northwest corner of grant township. the [[population den
Traverse_City_micropolitan_area Unincorporated_communities_in_Grand_Traverse_County,_Michigan Unincorporated_communities_in_Michigan