Two of the grandest private clubs in America sit side by side on the island's edge — a fireproof rowing fortress and a million-dollar yacht palace on its own man-made island. Old money and new, the glory and the gatekeeping both.
That handsome clubhouse standing out on its own little island, just off the water side as we roll west along the north shore — that's the Detroit Yacht Club, and the older fortress nearer the bank is the Detroit Boat Club. Two of the grandest private clubs in all of America, sitting side by side right here on the edge of Belle Isle. And between the two of them, they just about tell the whole story of Detroit money — the old kind that rowed for the city's honor, and the new kind that came roaring up this river on a fortune built from automobiles. One a rowing club older than the state park movement itself; the other a million-dollar palace floating on a man-made island. Boone knows these two better than anybody, the glory and the gatekeeping both. Ease off the gas a moment — Boone's got this one.
