Inland Resorts

INLAND RESORTS

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Next Site West: Grand Junction
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A mid 1920s black and white postcard titled 'Scene at Green Leaf Pavilion, North Lake, Kendall, Mich.' Trees line a lake with a dock. People sit or stand in the shade, their cars parked nearby.

Image Credit: Dick Godfrey

A yellowed map titled 'Finest kind of fishing, boating, bathing and kindred pleasures' shows Grand Junction at the center, surrounded by 16 lakes, most to the east within a four-mile radius; three railroads go through town. Text reads: 'This is a correct map of Grand Junction and the surrounding country, showing square sections and one-mile circles. The finest orchards and natural summer outing places in Michigan are right here.'

Image Credit: Dick Godfrey

Summer vacationers from big cities like Chicago were drawn to Michigan's west coast. The railroad provided easy access to the rural resorts found on farms and inland lakes. Some owners offered a free ride from the closest train stop to the resort.

A business card reads: 'Reeder's Resort, Silver Lake Fruit Farm (100 Acres). Good fishing, boating and bathing. Transportation to and from station free. Terms $1.00 per day. Grand Junction, Mich.'

Image Credit: Dick Godfrey

A colorized early 20th-century postcard titled 'Reeders Landing, Silver Lake Grand Junction, Mich.' shows a pink sunset and a tree-lined lake. A man, accompanied by a woman and child, stands fishing on a dock. In the water, three people sit in a rowboat. Two other rowboats are tied to the dock; a third rests on shore, oars leaning against a tree.

Image Credit: Dick Godfrey

A black and white postcard titled 'Bathing ‘Wanda’ Health Resort, Grand Junction, Mich.' shows a busy dock jutting out into a lake. A dozen men, women and children dressed in fine clothes sit or stand along the dock; a spaniel dog stands, looking at the viewer. At the end of the dock, a man dressed in a full-length tank bathing suit prepares to dive in; another man is already in the water alongside the dock.

Image Credit: Dick Godfrey

A 1909 colorized postcard titled 'East Side Mud Lake, Grand Junction, Mich.' A man, woman and child look at the viewer, a lake lined with trees at their backs.

Image Credit: Dick Godfrey

A black-and-white postcard titled 'Camp Cherith at Saddle Lake, Grand Junction, Michigan.' A girl in shorts and a tee sits on a split rail fence as she chats with two other girls near a rustic camp sign.

Image Credit: Dick Godfrey

"Numbers of people across Lake Michigan (are) attracted thither by the many pleasant locations and the numerous attractions to the city dwellers to whom life in the country seems a desirable change from the rush and turmoil that has surrounded them in their urban homes."

– Captain O. W. Rowland, A History of Van Buren County Michigan, 1912

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