💜 Welcome to The Purple Palace!
Where the lake is big, the house is purple, and Chicago is surprisingly close.
Tucked into the very first beach community south of The Windy City, The Purple Palace is a quirky launch pad for big adventures. We’re just two blocks from the southernmost tip of Lake Michigan and two blocks from the entrance to Indiana Dunes National Park. Basically, you can roll out of bed, grab your coffee, and be surrounded by sand, dunes, and freshwater before you’ve had time to check your phone.
The Nelson Algren Trail is a five-minute stroll away, where you can walk or bike your way toward the Marquette Greenway. The house sits parallel to Marquette Lagoon, giving you that unmistakable “I’m somewhere else” feeling, even though downtown Chicago is only about 40 minutes away by train.
🏡 Three bedrooms. Ten sleepers. One purple palace.
With three bedrooms and room for up to 10 guests, there’s plenty of space for families, friends, reunion crews, weekend warriors, beach bums, trail explorers, and people who just want to disappear for a few days without actually going very far.
Spend the morning wandering the dunes.
Spend the afternoon at the lake.
Hop on the train and have dinner in Chicago.
Come back, kick off your shoes, and wonder why you don’t do this more often.
The good stuff is REALLY close.
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2 blocks to the southernmost tip of Lake Michigan
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2 blocks to Indiana Dunes National Park
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5 minutes to the Nelson Algren Trail and cabin (that he shared with Simon de Beauvoir)
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Access to the Marquette Greenway
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Right alongside Marquette Lagoon
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About 40 minutes by train to downtown Chicago
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3 bedrooms / sleeps up to 10
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One gloriously purple place to call home
The Purple Palace is part beach house, part trailhead, part Chicago escape, and entirely its own thing.
Come for the dunes. Stay for the lake. Take the train into the city. Or do absolutely none of that and spend the weekend hanging out at the Palace.
We won’t judge.
Meet Your Hosts
After 15 years as a globe-trotting filmmaker, Jessica Renslow moved home. A 5th generation Garyite, Jessie fell in love with Shawn Griffin in 2018 and convinced him to move into The Purple Palace. Shawn had been a solar panel tech traveling across the country implementing green energy projects. After a few seasons at the state park, he became a member of the roads and trails crew for the Indiana Dunes National Park. Over the course of the next few years, they were blessed with two spunky sons who are autistic. The original plan was to raise them full time in Miller, but their boys' education needs required this little family to seek services in Michigan. Splitting time between two great places and sharing their home as a short-term rental is the next best thing to being able to live year-round in The Purple Palace.