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Situated in the Manistee National Forest, Bitely is an unincorporated community within Lilley Township, in Newaygo County, Michigan, although a portion of the community extends into Lake County.

As an unincorporated community, there are no defined boundaries, but the community is surrounded by several lakes, including Bitely Lake, Greening Lake, Isaac Lake, Mawby Lake, Mowby Lake, Mill Lake, Railroad Lake, and Woods Lake. Another residential area sometimes considered part of Bitely is to the west, clustered around another group of lakes: Jars Lake, Leaf Lake, Musketeer Lake, Nichols Lake, and Walkup Lake. The two areas are connected by West Cleveland Drive (West 13 Mile Road).

The main routes through the community are West 13 Mile Road, Cleveland Drive, and North Bingham Avenue, while M-37 is about one mile west of Bitely. The unincorporated community of Lilley is 2.5 miles north, Merrill is 2.5 miles south, and Walgamor Corners is 5.1 miles west of Bitely, while the City of Grand Rapids is about seventy-five miles to the south.

The Bitely Homecoming Parade is held on the third Saturday of July, and the Bitely Booze Olympics is held on Walkup Lake each year.

The community was founded as a station on the Chicago & West Michigan Railroad (later the Pere Marquette, the Chesapeake & Ohio, and then the Marquette Rail) in 1884, and a post office was established there on September 19, 1889, with Archer D. Martin as its first postmaster. Steven and Jerome Bitely are acknowledged as the community's founders, and it was named for Steven Bitely, who built a sawmill there. Because of a clerical error, the post office was spelled Biteley for several years.

The focus of this category is on the unincorporated community known as Bitely, Michigan. Appropriate resources for this category may include local businesses and industries, schools, churches, attractions, and events.

 

 

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