Gateway to Harbor Country®

The Gateway to Harbor Country® corridor encompasses the shoreline communities east of Long Beach running to the Indiana-Michigan state line — primarily Duneland Beach and Michiana Shores. The name reflects the corridor's geographic and cultural position: these communities share as much in common with the upscale Michigan resort towns of Harbor Country® — New Buffalo, Union Pier, and their neighbors — as they do with Long Beach and the Michigan City beach communities.

Duneland Beach is an unincorporated residential community of approximately 200 homes situated along roughly one mile of Lake Michigan shoreline in La Porte County. The community manages its own affairs through a well-organized homeowners association rather than through municipal government. The Duneland Beach Association oversees the community beach, the water system, and the roads — a level of private infrastructure unusual even among HOA-governed communities. Residents are a mix of year-round homeowners and Chicago-area weekenders and seasonal visitors.

Duneland Beach is defined by deep woodland privacy. The community is tucked behind dense canopies of oak and pine that create a level of seclusion uncommon along the more open stretches of the Indiana shoreline. The beach itself — wide, pristine, and association-managed — is the community's crown jewel, with a noticeably uncrowded atmosphere that reflects both the private access structure and the community's deliberate low profile. Homes in the woods offer surprising value relative to other shoreline communities; the luxury estates along Millionaires Row represent the opposite end of the spectrum, with prices that can exceed $4 million.

Michiana Shores is an incorporated town in La Porte County, governed by a five-person town council — a form of municipal government with roots in the Progressive Era that gives residents direct local control over zoning, ordinances, and community character. Unlike Duneland Beach, Michiana Shores has no direct beachfront. Life here is lived under a dense canopy of oaks and pines rather than on an open shore, and the community's character is shaped by that woodland setting. The town shares beach access with its sister community of Michiana, Michigan at Stop 37, just across the state line.

New Buffalo, Michigan — the western gateway to Harbor Country® — is typically a ten to fifteen minute drive from Michiana Shores. That proximity gives residents practical access to Harbor Country's restaurants, wine bars, galleries, and seasonal events without paying Michigan property taxes. For buyers who are drawn to the Harbor Country lifestyle but prefer Indiana's significantly lower property tax structure, this corridor offers a genuine alternative.

This is one of the most misunderstood aspects of owning lakefront property in Indiana, and worth understanding clearly before purchasing.

The Indiana Supreme Court ruled in Gunderson v. State (2018) that Lake Michigan's shoreline is held in public trust up to the ordinary high water mark — the point where wave action creates a visible, natural demarcation on the beach. In practice, this often includes a substantial portion of the dry sand beach, not merely the wet sand at the water's edge. In high water years, it may encompass the entire beach. The land below the ordinary high water mark is owned by the state and held in trust for public use, including walking, fishing, and boating.

Deeds for lakefront properties sometimes describe ownership extending to the water's edge, but the Court held that public trust ownership predates Indiana statehood and supersedes those claims. A seller's assertion of exclusive beach ownership is, at minimum, a legally nuanced one.

That said, lakefront ownership does confer meaningful rights. Littoral owners — those whose property borders the lake — retain a vested right to access the water regardless of where the ordinary high water mark falls in a given year. You may cross the public trust land to reach the lake, and as the high water mark shifts over time due to lake level fluctuations, erosion, or accretion, your private property line shifts with it while your right of access remains intact.

The practical implications: you cannot exclude the general public from the beach below the ordinary high water mark, even directly in front of your home. Construction of docks, seawalls, or other structures in that zone typically requires a permit from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. And while access to your shoreline communities' beach may feel private — limited by parking restrictions, geography, or community governance — the legal character of the beach itself is a different matter.

Buyers considering lakefront properties in any Indiana shoreline community should factor this into their understanding of what they are purchasing.