Leelanau Truth Or Lore? People Used To Drive Across Lake Leelanau

Feb. 4, 2022

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.

Check out her blog here.