Tour of Belle Isle Detroit Michigan | Living in Detroit Michigan

so you're thinking about moving to Detroit Michigan well today in this video we're going to give you a tour of What It's Like on Belle Isle Island [Music] hello and welcome to today's video on Belle Isle my name is Matt Talbot my team and I help people just like you every single day move here to Southeast Michigan and we absolutely live for it today we're in Detroit Michigan actually we're almost between Detroit and Canada we're on Belle Isle Island so Belle Isle island is an awesome Island here in the city of Detroit is actually a state-owned park at this point as you can see the city skyline behind me it's a beautiful beautiful beautiful Park so in this video we want to give you a tour of what Belle Isle is like we're gonna check out some of the fun features we're going to look at the aquarium we're going to check out some of the disc golf and actual golf range we're going to show you the beach out here and all the scenic options that Belle Isle has to offer and we're going to do all that starting right now so quick history lesson at least if I remember it properly if not please while editing this put some nice pop-ups to correct my mistakes so this island was settled by the French settlers back in the 1700s after that it was actually a gift to Alexander McComb Jr I'm not sure if that's where the city of Macomb Macomb County came from assuming so there's some direct overlap there after his victory of the War of 1812 so they actually gave him this island which is almost a thousand acres to live on and uh fast forward years later it was actually the Fourth of July one year they decided to rename the island Bell Isle which means beautiful island in French so they developed it and uh moving forward from there eventually was actually developed by the same gentleman who developed Central Park in New York city so again way back in the day guys Detroit was like the epicenter of the world like you had New York and Detroit when the Auto industry came along Detroit was the spot it was almost like what I imagined of like Dubai for a lot of people is today it was developing so place so fast it was a place to be the automobiles were coming out of here so it was the place to be so there's a lot of really interesting develop element that happened in the early 1900s throughout the city of Detroit as you can see a lot of cool architecture around here as well too we're going to dive into some of the unique features that have evolved since then the aquarium was put in after that and several other different features have evolved over the last hundred hundred and fifty years 140 years whatever it is since the early 1900s so hopefully those facts are mostly right but quick history lesson of how Belle Isle came to be the island itself I think I already mentioned but we're actually right in between technically on U.S soil but really not even a mile that way I don't think is Canada so we're really right in between Detroit and Canada which is a really really cool feature for a long time there are some other things happening here including the Grand Prix this is actually the first year 2023 they put the Grand Prix back downtown so it was actually a race throughout the Detroit streets which is really cool a couple weeks back so anyway we're gonna jump over next I think the aquarium we're gonna jump over to next thing that's the next stop on the way as we tour the Island the island itself is about a mile and a half long there's roads that go all the way through and you can do a full circle throughout as well as bike trails and stuff like that you can take them through the road so it's a great place to walk great place to take your bicycle out great place to drive around check out the different features during the day so we'll show you some of that now James Scott was the guy who donated the money to build this Fountain which is pretty unreal it's like all Limestone and stuff it's really cool in person hopefully it shows just as well and on camera I like the last part the best so it talks about when he did it and all this stuff but from the good deed of one comes benefit to many I love that something to live by it's something to go by James Scott interesting quote so next stop is one of my favorite features of Bell Isle it is the Bell Isle aquarium right behind me super cool building we'll try to jump inside we're doing a lot of Renovations over here which is really cool initially the building was developed and built in 1904 by George D Mason and Albert Khan so here in Detroit Albert Khan is a very very famous name he's a very famous architect in the city of Detroit have done tons of buildings throughout Detroit and I think throughout Metro Detroit as well too but he's very famous a lot of people are searching for that Albert Khan building because of his famous type of architecture so the aquarium like I said was built in 1904 it for a long time it was the longest continually operating aquarium in the country all the way into that until 2005. so in Detroit 2005 when you know we had the uh the market crash shortly after and stuff like that it was it was a tough time for Detroit because it really heavily impacted the Auto industry but since then the aquarium has been reopened and has been reopened opened by the friends of the Belle Isle aquarium so it is now a non-profit privately ran and they raise tons of money so it costs the city about 530 000 a year in 2005 to continue to operate which is why it shut down when the city wasn't doing so well since then there's been a ton of change in the city of Detroit we're doing really well now the budget's great and things are prosperous here in the city so that's a good sign that being said the aquariums ran by the friends of the Belle Isle aquarium which is really really cool as you can see to my left there's also Botanical Gardens and to my right I don't know if Nick can see that from here or not we shoot over this way there's also lots of greenhouses so glass greenhouses and stuff like that that so a lot of things are happening we'll show you some of the stuff going on there's a cool Koi fish here at the aquarium which is really cool as well too they put those in and take those out throughout the year I'm pretty sure and actually another interesting fact according to Wikipedia of course where I get most of this information so please don't fact check everything according to Wikipedia during prohibition there's actually a Speak Easy in the basement so if we can show you what the inside of this place looks I hope you're not shut down for like a school or something today we can show you what the inside looks it's crazy it's pretty cool um very very old school Vibes like I said designed by Albert Khan but I can't imagine doing a speakeasy during Prohibition in the basement was probably just like such an interesting place like on this island between Canada and Detroit so lots of History here we'll show you what's happening inside the Belle Isle aquarium so I don't know if you guys can hear me well Echoes a little bit in here but the aquarium like I said it's really really old school uh and I love I love uh sorry guys um I love this ceiling it's so green it makes you feel like you're underwater you're in the aquarium itself and so I guess there's some art visit uh Art Exhibit set up currently so some of the art in here is temporary it's made out of art from trash from oceans and lakes and stuff which is pretty cool so we'll continue on it's kind of crowded place today there's a field trip walking in behind me so [Music] see that guy is the octopus they're like one of my favorite animals ever they're so smart so cool so many things on Netflix obsessed so there's a uh um showcase here and Nick already got a close-up but pawavik tile so they have some custom kawabic tile is a really really cool thing here in Detroit it's an old tile company that's been around for a long time they actually used to make fireplaces and different decorative things throughout home so a lot of the Detroit architecture and Detroit homes have coolavic tile we'll make another video that dives deeper into that but wanted to talk about that a little bit because koavik's super cool so it's a little bit of a bummer today but in the future they're putting 10 million dollars in renovations into the conservatory Center so as you can see lots of construction behind this but it's a cool thing there's a lot of plants and different wildlife and stuff like that here where she could take you guys through it however 10 million bucks is going into this area so it's just going to continue to get better some really great people in there all the volunteers and stuff that were showing me around and trying to to show us what to do what not to do with the cameras and stuff but really great people here it's really great atmosphere a lot of kids here today she said typically Friday mornings which is where we're at today is a little bit slower but lots of field trips and stuff which is awesome that's what it's all about guys check it out for yourself so up next one of my favorite features not my favorite feature this is my second favorite feature we're saving the best for last so stay tuned to the end but my second favorite feature on the whole island I'm up here all the time because I live in the city of Detroit so I drive over here and stuff like that that is Belle Isle Golf so this is a really really cool facility they put a ton of love and attention and money into over the last couple years so it's evolving pretty fast right behind me is a short game practice facility there's a driving range they recently implemented a trackman type device so there's digital Golf and screens we can show you that in a minute there's also I think five or six holes par threes that you can play all short game type stuff with wedges and stuff so it's a really cool practice facility they're doing a lot of fun stuff out here this is the other end of the island so when we started the video we were really sort of on the south end of the island and now we're almost on the North End of the island or um or east end of the island I should say northeast end of the Island right so um really cool spot here we'll give you a quick couple shots inside to show you what it's like this is one of my personal favorites I'm up here all the time I hit range balls at night it's the end of the island so a lot of times you know the sun's setting it's just Good Vibes out here all summer so I love coming up here one of my favorite features but stay tuned because I'm Gonna Save The Best For Last my favorite features coming up next [Music] this is seriously like my happy place guys I don't think you understand it's where I come to meditate okay guys so we're at Belle Isle golf this is the driving range those of you who don't know I used to be a competitive golfer as a kid top Tracer range this is really cool they just implemented these these screens over here all the way down you can play games almost like a Topgolf or you know different closest to the Ping contest and stuff like that so like I said when the sun sets or just pretty much anytime during the day it's a great thing if you're into golf to come out here so if you live locally drive to Belle Isle check it out like I said there's some Par 3 holes here as well as a practice of facility behind us additionally there's some bald eagles that live on the island so sometimes you'll be out here practicing you see the bald eagles flying around and stuff like that but I want to show you one shot or two the most important part all right Nick no uh no stretching I'm gonna do a little stretch I don't hurt myself because I worked out this morning you guys can judge my swing back home we got a little seven iron from the clubhouse seven iron is usually like a 175 Club if I don't suck see here put it together oh yeah I almost shanked it [Music] last but not least is the beach here at Belle Isle so this is Belle Isles Beach today it's a little bit of a cool afternoon so not crazy busy out here in the middle of summer on a nice hot summer day is absolutely packed it's hard to even find a spot sometimes that being said it's a great place to come out and picnic you know set up your tent your picnic table get all your food and beverages out here and come hang out as you can see behind me is the Detroit skyline so what city you know it's very cool to me to have this in the city of Detroit where you're actually on the island and city views behind you it's beautiful sand out here you can come hang out on Belle Isle Island so a couple other important features of the island that I can't miss out is the Detroit Yacht Club the Detroit boat club frisbee golf there's a disc golf course out here and so many many other activities including Pavilions that you can rent so a lot of people do like family reunions come out and do picnics and Pavilion Rentals and get big groups of people out here nice barbecues and stuff like that so there's a lot of other really unique features we only want to keep the video so long but the beach is my personal favorite we're out here all the time Detroit is known for a lot of their electronic music so people are usually usually bumping music sometimes there's festivals down here and food trucks and all that great stuff so Belle Isle Island it's such an awesome facility the beach itself is my personal favorite so thanks so much for tuning in today's video and this video provided any value to you if you're interested in learning more about the city of Detroit Metro Detroit Southeast Michigan are moving to the area please hit subscribe and tap for notifications thanks for tuning in

Channel: LIVING IN DETROIT MICHIGAN

Views: 14,422

Keywords: Tour of Belle Isle Detroit Michigan, detroit living, detroit michigan, detroit real estate 2023, homes for sale in michigan, moving to detroit vlog, tour of belle isle detroit Michagan, belle isle detroit michigan, belle isle beach detroit, history of belle isle detroit, belle isle detroit Michagan, hstory of belle isle detroit, moving to detroit michigan

Id: Zqgi1P_Tt9A

Length: 12min 43sec (763 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 20 2023