Overview

In 1830, William and Mary Butler entered the Saugatuck harbor and began the first permanent settlement of Allegan County. Within half a century of the Butlers' arrival, the mysteries and grandeur of the Saugatuck-area landscape were legendary and were incorporated into the prose and poetry of many writers, including Carl Sandburg, James Fennimore Cooper, and Edgar Lee Masters. By 1910, an unending stream of visitors filed in, some with paintbrushes to the summer art colony, some armed with hammers to build cottages - and some with cameras. This book of amateur photographs is an attempt to give voice to some of the thousands of people who came to several little villages - Saugatuck and others nearby - along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. The snapshots are entertaining to be sure, but more than that they provide a fascinating window to the past and how people responded and contributed to the mystique of this beautiful landscape.

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9780965704236

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James Schmiechen is professor of history at Central Michigan University and chairperson of the Saugatuck-Douglas Historical Museum. He writes and teaches about European and American architecture, urban space, and urban life. William Kemperman is a former control operator for an electric utility company who moved to the Saugatuck area in 1993 and was inspired by its rich history and local historians to collect area postcards, photographs, and news items.

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