Bay View is a jewel box of a Northern Michigan Chautauqua community along the shores of Little Traverse Bay, southwest of the Mackinac Bridge. Founded in 1875 and now a National Historic Landmark, its 31 public buildings and 450 cottages are among the most pristine examples of 1900-era High Victorian architecture in the United States. Historical photographs capture the fascinating journey via rail and Great Lakes steamer to the early campgrounds beech-forested hillside. Rare images trace its path from a wilderness Methodist campground to a vibrant embodiment of Chautauquas four pillars: the arts, education, recreation, and religion. Building on the Camp Meeting and Chautauqua traditions, the founders forged a unique lifestyle that ends every November only to resume with renewed energy every April. The turrets, towers, and gingerbread of this timeless Brigadoon excite the imagination today just as they did more than 135 years ago.

Uses historic and contemporary images to trace the region’s evolution to a modern-day tourist destination. The railroad’s arrival in the 1870s transformed the formerly sleepy Little Traverse Bay region into a tourist mecca. Victorian resort communities and the growing towns of Harbor Springs and Petoskey provided lodging, dining, entertainment, and supplies to an influx of settlers, speculators, and tourists who visited in the summer or stayed year-round. Over the decades, cars have replaced trains and steamships and many structures have been altered or demolished, but Little Traverse Bay, Past and Present shows that the area’s history is still very much a part of the present day. Featuring contemporary images by Rebecca Zeiss, over three hundred historic (most never before published) photos, and historical narrative by Michael R. Federspiel, this volume documents the development of the tourist economy and also serves as a snapshot of the region today. Little Traverse Bay, Past and Present is divided into chapters by place and topic. Federspiel and Zeiss look at the cities of Petoskey and Harbor Springs; the resort associations of Bay View, Wequetonsing, and Harbor Point; and railroads, steamships, and excursions. Along the way, they visit historic hotels, public buildings, residences, commercial districts, and waterfront areas. At many sites, Zeiss’s beautiful and precise photos show that the historic views are still as they were; at others, they are hidden behind facades or structural alterations. Sometimes the historic sites are simply gone, replaced by something totally new or turned into empty lots. Federspiel also includes an introduction on the making of modern Little Traverse Bay and introduces the leaders and businessmen behind it. Popular tourist regions often boast beautiful souvenir photo books or history books addressing their past. Little Traverse Bay, Past and Present is both, making it of interest to visitors and local residents alike who want to learn more about the area’s nineteenth-century history as well as those interested in its appearance today.

This book traces the rise and decline of what Theodore Roosevelt once called the "most American thing in America." The Chautauqua movement began in 1874 on the shores of Chautauqua Lake in western New York. More than a college or a summer resort or a religious assembly, it was a composite of all of these—completely derivative yet brilliantly innovative. For five decades, Chautauqua dominated adult education and reached millions with its summer assemblies, reading clubs, and traveling circuits. Scholars have long struggled to make sense of Chautauqua's pervasive yet disorganized presence in American life. In this critical study, Andrew Rieser weaves the threads of Chautauqua into a single story and places it at the vital center of fin de siècle cultural and political history. Famous for its commitment to democracy, women's rights, and social justice, Chautauqua was nonetheless blind to issues of class and race. How could something that trumpeted democracy be so undemocratic in practice? The answer, Rieser argues, lies in the historical experience of the white, Protestant middle classes, who struggled to reconcile their parochial interests with radically new ideas about social progress and the state. The Chautauqua Moment brings color to a colorless demographic and spins a fascinating tale of modern liberalism's ambivalent but enduring cultural legacy.