Leelanau Truth Or Lore? People Used To Drive Across Lake Leelanau
While digging into the epic collection of historic Leelanau newspapers that were recently digitized , Leelanau Historical Society Museum's curatorial assistant Elizabeth Adams discovered an article from the Leelanau Enterprise, winter of 1927, discussing the now incredible-sounding act of drivers crossing Lake Leelanau in their automobile.
It's true: “Automobile travel is more common on Lake Leelanau this winter than ever before. At first only a novel ice sport, indulged in by a few, it is now a regular mode of travel between Leland and East Leland.”
In a recent blog post from Adams, she shares the route these 1920s ice-travelers would have taken, plus more images of ice as the center of winter life in Leelanau County for centuries. Ice was even a commodity that was “harvested” by cutting and hauling it to be stored in ice houses for distribution to locals for their personal iceboxes and for packing locally caught fish.