Our historic neighborhood is full of wonderful opportunities for adventure!

Our Neighborhood

Walkable Eateries

If you need a bite or a beverage, we have a multitude of shops and restaurants around the corner on Wealthy St, within easy walking distance.

• Anchoring the block, the Art of the Table is our local wine shop, spirits cellar, and home décor source.
• Next door is the Wealthy Street Bakery, our favorite spot for baked goods, breakfast, and lunchtime sandwiches. They have artisan pizzas and calzones in the evening!
• Rowster Coffee offers the best coffee and specialty beverages in the neighborhood.
• The Eastern Kille cocktail bar highlights locally distilled spirits in an approachable environment, and they’re open late!
• MoKAYA offers artisan chocolates and confections.
• The Winchester is our local gastro-pub, renown for both its cocktails and its dishes.
• Across the street, we have Donkey Taqueria, home to gourmet tacos a menu of mezcal cocktails.
• Our classic neighborhood diner is Good Truckin Diner GR, excellent for breakfast or lunch.
• On the corner, Živio offers great date nights with modern European cuisine, a cultural clash of authentic Turkish, Greek, and many Central European countries.
• And just a block further finds Popnotch Goods, serving gourmet popcorn and ice cream!

And that’s just beginning–Wealthy street has neighborhoods of restaurants for miles, through Midtown, Eastown, and all the way to Gaslight Village in East Grand Rapids, where it ends at Reeds Lake and Rose’s.

There’s yet more up on Cherry Street, including the retro Commons (try the Dirty Tots!), the Belgian-inspired Brewery Vivant (we go for the Duck Confit nachos), the gastropub Green Well, and the impeccably fresh Grove (they take reservations).

Heritage Hill, a protected historic neighborhood

“Heritage Hill offers Michigan’s largest and finest collection of 19th and early 20th century houses. Nearly every style of American architecture, from Greek Revival to Prairie, is represented in the 1,300 buildings that date from 1844. These were the homes of lumber barons, teachers, judges, and legislators who shaped our city’s future. Today, its population of 4,000 households is very diverse. Professionals, artisans and students; singles, couples and families, renters and homeowners; people of all backgrounds and incomes make Heritage Hill home” (Heritage Hill website).

Tours

We have printed maps for self-guided walking tours of historic homes at the Inn. Every Year, the neighborhood association organizes a Tour of Homes the third week of May. Several of our neighbors open their doors for these tours!

If you like a tour of various parts of town, Tours Around Michigan offer several guided tours. GR Walks offers a free app with several audio tours of historic note. And a particularly interesting set of on-demand Cemetery tours cover local history through the lives of the famous, the treacherous, and the invisible.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Meyer May House

Frank Lloyd Wright designed a house in 1909 for a Grand Rapids clothier, Meyer May. The Meyer May House is now a museum, meticulously restored by the Steelcase corporation. They offer free tours, and it’s just across the street!

Gerald R. Ford Boyhood Home

The boyhood home of US President Gerald R. Ford, a Grand Rapids native, is around the corner from the Parsonage Inn. It is currently a private home.

The Gerald R Ford Presidential Library and Museum is nearby, however.

Jean Stoffer’s Madison Project

If you’re a fan of interior design, you may already follow Jean Stoffer online or through her Magnolia Network TV show, The Established Home. Her design shop, Stoffer Home, is around the corner on Wealthy St.

One of her featured homes, “The Madison” project, is directly across the street from our Inn, perfect for viewing while drinking your morning coffee on our porch! But be sure to walk around the block to see the English gardens in back.

Downtown

At just over a mile from the Inn, the entire downtown core is within walking distance, with the Civic Theater, Grand Rapids Public Museum, Grand Rapids Arts Museum, Gerald R Ford Museum, ArtPrize, St Cecilia Music Society, and so much more.

For refreshments, there’s the Grand Rapids Brewing Company, many beers on tap at HopCat, Spanish tapas at San Chez, multiple restaurants in a former factory at The BOB, fine dining at Leo’s Seafood, excellent Italian at the longstanding Bistro Bella Vita (they take reservations!), steaks at The Chop House, and so many other restaurants we can’t list them all.

Around Town

The amazing Local Spins has a full calendar of live local music. Live music abounds at venues like the Midtown listening room, the Blues club Billy’s Lounge in Eastown, and the intimate TipTop Deluxe on the west side.

For some unusual group projects, consider one of our several Escape Rooms, Axe Throwing halls, or Fowling arenas.

If you’d like some outdoor adventure, consider bicycling or kayaking in Millennium Park or riding the White Pine Trail.

Patrons of the Arts will want to see the Grand Rapids Symphony, Opera Grand Rapids, Grand Rapids Ballet, Circle Theater, Actors Theater, River City Improv, and more.

Sports fans won’t miss Whitecaps baseball and Griffins hockey.

Higher Education institutions include Calvin College, Cornerstone University, Aquinas College, Davenport University, Grand Valley State University

See Experience GR for more lists, and Grand Rapids Magazine for calendars of events!