Along The West Michigan Pike: From Sand Trails to U.S.31

Oct4

We spent the first fortnight in September this year at our friends’ cottage in Michigan. We’ve visited several times before but it’s always a pleasure to stay there with them and make new discoveries in the area as well re-visiting old haunts.

On the bookshelves at the Cottage my attention was drawn to a book by friends of our hosts called ‘Vintage Views Along the West Michigan Pike‘. Christine Byron and Thomas Wilson have collected memorabilia and old photos and postcards and assembled them together to produce an illustrated history of the road that wends (or wended) its way along the eastern side of Lake Michigan from the Indiana State Line to the Mackinac Bridge that links the Lower Peninsula of Michigan to the Upper Peninsula.

The West Michigan Pike has been more or less swallowed up by the highway U.S.31 which actually starts way south of Michigan in Alabama.

I’ve picked out a few pages of places that I’m more familiar with and included some of my own photos of places along the route.

Map

South Haven Accommodations in yesteryear

Our 1950s Sun ‘n’ Sand Resort Accommodation 2013

South Haven was our overnight stop between Chicago O’Hare Airport and Stony Lake where the Cottage is located.

Saugatuck is always a favourite stopping off point just off the 31 on journeys between Stony Lake and Chicago.

The S.S.Keewatin, moored on the south bank of the Kalamazoo Lake near Saugatuck is one of the few remaining of dozens of passenger ships that criss-crossed Lake Michigan. The Scottish-built ship is now a museum and is the biggest vessel to ever enter Saugatuck’s Harbour. I haven’t yet managed to visit as the museum is closed after Labor day and our trips are normally in September.

Moving on north up the US31 you come to Holland with its very Dutch buildings and atmosphere. We visited Downtown Holland for the first time this trip but it’s not easy to take picturesque pictures these days, with cars parked everywhere. Better to view it from the old time postcards and pictures.

Welcome to Holland

Holland – Tulip Town

Holland Postcard – I love this style but no longer available these days!

Next along the route is Grand Haven. We’ve visited a few times and love this wide streeted town with its individual shops like Hostetter’s Newsagent and Bookshop and old style deli Fortino’s.

Hostetter’s, Grand Haven, MI

Another favourite town of ours is Pentwater. Dubbed “A Norman Rockwell Kind of Town” it is, like the many of the others, just one wide main street with good eateries and shops. Sailing is also very popular here and the yachts big and small bob up and down in the harbour/marina as you approach the centre of town.

Main Street Pentwater 2007

North of Pentwater has usually been outside our holiday ‘comfort zone’ but we made a day-long excursion this year via Manistee and Benzonia to the delightful small city of Traverse City. It’s one of those places listed in Top 10 Small Town America lists such as this and we thought it deserved its placing.

Manistee

Welcome to Benzonia!

Description of Benzonia

Traverse City ‘A Motoring Town’ – Still Full of Parked Cars Today!

Traverse City – Also, ‘The Heart of Nature’s Playground’!

The Cinema that Local Film Maker Michael Moore helped to Save

And here’s Lake Michigan itself – By Day

… And At Sunset

Oak Park : Wide Lawns and Narrow Minds

Sep30

The Chicago suburb of Oak Park is probably best known for its connections with Frank Lloyd Wright. I mentioned his Home and Studio are here in a previous post and also a large number of fine examples of his work. Twentieth century novelist Ernest Hemingway was born on Oak Park Avenue in 1899 so I decided to visit his home and museum to find out more about ‘Papa’. He left Oak Park as a teenager for a world of adventure and I’m not sure he ever came back. My Michelin Chicago Guide says “He later derided the conservative suburb for its ‘wide lawns and narrow minds'”.

North Oak Park Avenue, Oak Park

The Hemingway Museum

To get to Oak Park I took the bus down Michigan Avenue to the Loop business district and then the Green Line El Train to Oak Park Avenue. Straight up from the station, on Oak Park Avenue itself, and just a few minutes walk from it, is the Hemingway Museum. This is the place to find out all about the novelist and his life but for the tour of his birthplace you need to book a ticket in advance. Luckily I was able to join the next tour.

Ernest Hemingway Birthplace, 339 North Oak Park Avenue

The birthplace is just another 5 minutes walk along the same avenue of gracious homes and low-rise apartment buildings. The tour was as interesting to me for the guide (whose home it now is) as for what I found out about Hemingway. Still, he (the guide/owner) had managed to furnish the house with some original artefacts and furnishings and all the rest seemed very much in keeping with the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Breakfast with the Hemingways

The Room where ‘Papa’ was born

We learned that Ernest and some of his siblings were born in this house but that his family actually lived diagonally across the street and that this house was the home of his maternal grandparents.

Photographs around the House and the Museum show Ernest and his elder sister looking remarkably alike.

Ernest (left) and Marcelline (right) with their Grandfather

“The two were a year apart in age, and their mother early on decided to raise them as twins, even to having them photographed in matching gowns and bonnets in the style of the day. Whatever injury Ernest felt he had suffered from such embarrassments, it may have been Marcelline who made the greater sacrifice: she was kept out of school for a year so they would be in the same class, and, despite her own considerable talents, she seems to have willingly stood in his shadow a good deal of her early life.”

[Idaho Librarian book review]

I can’t say I’m very familiar with Hemingway’s work. I’ve read his “A Moveable Feast” and didn’t really warm to him. Recently I read “The Paris Wife” by Paula McLain a novelised version of his life with Hadley Richardson, his first wife. Oh, and I saw him in the Woody Allen film “Midnight in Paris”

After the House Tour I made my way back to the Museum. There was lots to read and look at and time was getting on so I had skip through much of the Museum. Here are some pictures of the displays and film posters.

Ernest Hemingway’s early trips to Michigan made a big impression on him and he relates lots of his own adventures in The Nick Adams Stories. Nature had a huge influence on many of his works.

Hemingway with his family

Hemingway-related Cinema Posters

On my return to the train back to Chicago I diverted briefly to see Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unity Temple on Lake Street. It was already closed to visitors that day. Read about the Temple and the current restoration programme here.

Unity Temple

A Great Time in Malvern : Books, Tea and a Theatre Visit

Aug14

Last Saturday I arranged to meet up with a couple of members of my online book discussion group for our annual ‘Summer Meeting’ away from London (last year we were at Chatsworth). This year’s venue was Great Malvern in Worcestershire. I had never been there before, nor I believe had Carol, but Simon (Stuck-in-a-Book) used to live not so far away in Eckington so he was pretty familiar with the town and its book shops, of course.

These meetings generally follow a similar pattern. Meet for tea and cake, head off to a book shop or two, decide to have a light lunch, followed by more book shopping and ending with more tea (and often, cake). Anyway the theme is always of tea, cake and books in some kind of order.

Picture Source

As I was dropping off another friend at Great Malvern Station I arranged to meet Simon there. The station is probably one of the prettiest I have ever been to – there is a tea shop (Lady Foley’s Tea Shop) with tables and chairs outside on Platform One and as it is a listed building you can imagine it still has the signs and furniture of a bygone age. The station is slightly out of the town centre though so we drove, uphill, to a more convenient car park.

Great Malvern Priory Church

Malvern Hills

There are two very prominent features that dominate the town: the Malvern Hills that rise straight up vertically behind the town to the west and Great Malvern Priory right in the town centre and which is also the parish church.

After our first tea and cake at Mac and Jac’s near the Priory and a visit to the friendly, helpful and well-stocked Malvern Bookshop :

The Malvern Bookshop
7 Abbey Road
MALVERN Worcestershire WR14 3ES
tel: 01684 575915 fax: 01684 575915
Open: Monday – Saturday 10.00 – 5.00, closed Thursday and best to ring first in the winter.
Several rooms carrying large diverse stock. Quality books bought and sold. Music a speciality. By the Priory steps near the Post Office.

we decided to head up, straight up, vertically up to St Ann’s Well for lunch.

For me it was well worth the climb to see the original well/spring and enjoy lunch on the terrace. The trees are very tall and block the view from the cafe itself but we had fantastic views each time we stopped for breath and looked back across what must be The Vale of Evesham.

The View as begin our ascent to St Ann’s Well

View as we return down to Malvern

“In bygone days Malvern water was remarkable for its healing virtue, an efficacy that was held to be supernatural. How early the waters gained local repute it is impossible to say; but the fact that the old spring at Great Malvern is dedicated to St Ann, and that the well at Malvern Wells is the Holy Well, carries their reputation far back into the Middle Ages at least; while documentary evidence exists that they were in exceptional request early in the seventeenth century, especially for skin diseases, as public open baths.” So says my rather old copy of Ward Lock & Co’s “Malvern” illustrated guide book.

Surely everyone has heard of Malvern Natural Spring Water – the only bottled water used by our Queen Elizabeth II, which she takes on her travels around the world. Or does she still? There are still many natural springs around the town – some with warning signs.

‘Safe’ Malvern Spring in the Town

Natural Spring Water – but beware!

St Ann’s Well

Simon suggested a slightly less steep descent into town and a visit to Books for Amnesty :

Books For Amnesty
3 Edith Walk
MALVERN Worcestershire WR14 4QH
tel: 01684 563507
Open: Monday – Saturday 10.00 – 5.00.
Large general stock of donated books in all categories and at reasonable prices. Malvern has two other secondhand bookshops.

As we arrived he pointed out to me the world’s smallest theatre building in a converted Gents public convenience. I was intrigued and left the hard core book buyers in order to investigate. I bought a ticket for the five minute show and was entertained by The Deep Sea Diva and Stradi and his Various Voyages amongst others. After the show there is a photo opportunity which I couldn’t resist! [Pictures below]

Eventually we bought ices from the shop next door and headed to a park to eat them in the sunshine and for a final ‘show-and-tell’ of the books we’d bought before going our separate ways at around 5.30pm. We all agreed that it had been a most perfect day. We’ll soon be planning the next one …

The Theatre of small Convenience

About the Theatre

The Theatre

Photo Opportunity!

A Visit to The Plot

Jul31

The Plot

Last year at the Cowside Open Day I met Rosy and as we dried the pots in the kitchen together she told me she was reading The Plot by Madeleine Bunting. It’s based on a small parcel of land in North Yorkshire. She mentioned that the name of the plot of land was Scotch Corner and it was just near Kilburn and Sutton Bank. I looked up the name on the OS map and found it clearly marked and, intrigued, borrowed the book from the Library. The author is a Guardian journalist but she is also the daughter of the artist who built a chapel as a war memorial on the plot of land and decorated it with his own sculpture work. You can read more about the book in this Guardian review.

With it having a local interest and the fact that I liked it a lot I recommended it to my local book reading group. Our discussion (it had very positive responses) was held in early June. Observant members of the group had noticed a feature in a recent edition of the Yorkshire Post and brought the clipping along to the meeting. The article finished with :

“The chapel will be open between 12pm and 4pm to visitors and directions can be obtained from Sutton Bank National Park Centre. The chapel is located at Grid Reference SE 526, 814 and it is a 20-minute walk to the nearest parking.“

A quick look at the link to the North York Moors National Park site revealed the dates later in the year when the Plot and The Chapel would be open for viewing.

“The tiny, remote Chapel will be open for the public to see inside on Saturday 18 May, Saturday 20 July and Saturday 14 September this year.”

The group planned a picnic for the Saturday 20 July but I had also mentioned the book to another friend who lives in Cheshire and we’d planned to visit this summer. We invited Rosy to join us and all met up at Byland Abbey. From there it was a short hop to Kilburn and pub lunch outside at The Forresters Arms. Rosy, who lives nearby, took us to a parking place near Oldstead and we walked uphill along the old drovers’ road to Scotch Corner.

At The Plot a small crowd was inspecting the Chapel and there also was the book group; picnicking in the sun. Madeleine Bunting’s brother, Bernard, gave a brief introductory talk and we later looked inside the memorial and the hut that also occupies the small grassy site.

The Memorial Chapel

Carvings on the Chapel door

Lintel above the entrance

Memorial Sculpture

Memorial Stone to John Bunting (at entrance to Chapel)

We soon began to feel the need of a cup of tea and piece of cake so returned to the car and to Kilburn where the Mouseman T Shop was able to supply both in ample quantities.

Heidi’s Years of Learning and Travel

Jul27

After our morning at the dramatic Tamina Gorge and fascinating Bad Pfäfers Museum we returned by Schluchtenbus to Bad Ragaz town centre for a lunch in the sunny main square – a Swiss speciality cheese and onion tart with salad. We then caught a local post bus to Maienfeld just a few miles away.

Agnes’s Version of Heidi : Lehr- und Wanderjahre

Maienfeld was the inspiration to Joanna Spyri for her Heidi books; the first of which had the same title as this post. From the train and bus station it’s just a few steps to the Heidi Shop and Wine Bar [Maienfeld is in a significant Swiss wine-growing region]. The shop stocks every kind of souvenir thinkable with a Heidi connection and is surprisingly kitsch for Switzerland. There is also, naturally, a wide choice of Heidi titles and editions in various languages. This region “Heidiland” is relentlessly marketed throughout the area and throughout Switzerland in general and overseas.

The Heidi Shop and Wine Bar

Various Heidi titles for sale

Original Heidi Marketing Logo

Today’s Logo Version

We took the route marked uphill towards the Heidi House and Johanna Spyri Museum. It’s a quiet road and track and steepish in places with no-one else about.

The Heidi Way is in this direction

The quiet track up to Dörfli

So we were surprised as we neared the house to see crowds of people. On our alternative route back to Maienfeld we passed a big bus and car park from where the nations of the world had emerged with just a short, level path to the ‘village’ – Dörfli, in the books, but now renamed Heididorf.

Signs in Arabic?

Arriving at the Heidi House

Heidi House illustration from Agnes’s book

Not so much interested in all things ‘Heidi’ Susanne and I wanted to visit the Johanna Spyri Museum housed above (another) Heidi Gift Shop. There’s another Spyri Museum at her birthplace in Hirzel near Zurich. They must have any and all artefacts relating to her as there was very little here, near Maienfeld. Mostly, the museum consisted of information panels, a large collection of old and foreign editions of ‘Heidi‘ and video loops of extracts from Heidi movies made during the last century.

Heidi editions in the Spyri Museum

Johanna Spyri reminds me of Louisa M. Alcott who is famous for her Little Women books but has written and done so much more that is generally not known to the world at large. Spyri was born in 1827 and died in Zurich in 1901. Heidi was first published in Germany in 1879 and was a huge success. It is reputed to be the most-translated book in the world after the Bible and the Koran. But Spyri wrote much more besides and this is otherwise glossed over at the Dörfli Museum although there is a full list of these titles there are no actual examples; just a wall full of old and foreign editions of Heidi.

Descendants of Peter’s Goats? (from the museum window)

After the Spyri Museum and a quick walk around the exterior of the reputed Heidi House we decided to forego the longer walks up to the Heidi Alp and returned on foot to Maienfeld and by train to Schiers.

Further Hiking Opportunities in Heidiland if you have the time and the energy

Do you know Schellen-ursli?

Jul12

Schellen Ursli is the children’s storybook character created in 1945 by Alois Carigiet and drawings of him and his adventures are to be found in all formats in the Engadine area of Switzerland. It kind of reminded me of the Alsatian artist Hansi whose pictures were in every postcard rack, gift shop and home wares store throughout the area.

Last Saturday on our way home from St Moritz and Sils Maria we took a detour into the Lower Engadine Valley to the small Alpine village of Guarda that was the former home of Carigiet. As in Bergün its houses are a wonderful selection of Engadinian art in themselves. There’s a Schellen-ursli path but we didn’t have time for that.

It came as no surprise to me later to read the village has been awarded prizes and distinctions for its beauty. Nor to read on posters throughout the village that a film company was about to shoot some scenes here – it is so authentic.

An Inn in Guarda : Note the Romansch language is predominant here

A House in Guarda

Pretty Window

Another Guarda House – there were so many!

Nietzsche’s House in Sils Maria

Jul11

My knowledge of the life and philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche comes entirely from the writing and TV programme made by Alain de Botton a few years ago in his series Philosophy: A Guide to Happiness. Here is the episode on Nietzsche. In it he visits the house in Sils Maria where FN spent several summers in the 1880s. I was at that house last Saturday.

The village of Sils Maria is in huge contrast with nearby St Moritz with its glitz and glamour. I will however say, very much in its favour, that the setting of St Moritz is simply breathtaking.

St Moritz Bad (Spa) and Lake

St Moritz Lake

Sils Maria is in a no less dramatic situation with a lake and mountains but it also has much prettier architecture, very distinctive of the Engadine region, and a varied and interesting summer cultural programme. Some of it focussing on the Nietzsche House but lots more besides – walks, concerts, talks – many with literary connections.

Some brochures I picked up in Sils Maria

There’s a fantastic library and a huge amount of primary and secondary material at the house and it’s also possible to stay there as a guest and facilitate oneself of these research sources. Read more about the donations to the library here.

Just part of the collection of Nietzsche’s works

A Corner of the Library

Nietzsche’s Room

The View from Nietzsche’s House

Down The Magic Mountain via The Thomas-Mann-Way

Jun27

On my bookshelves at home there’s a lovely pristine Everyman hardback edition of Thomas Mann’s “The Magic Mountain” had I not had a weight limit restriction on my bag I may well have brought it with me but alas it was just too heavy to contemplate bringing. [Note. Yes, yes I know all about Kindles and the like but having made the comparison with real books have decided that they are just not for me] Where else would be the perfect place to read The MM but here within a William Tell’s arrow flight of the town of Davos where the ‘action’ of the book is set? Davos is just 20 miles away from Schiers.

Searching online for “Davos Thomas Mann” I found this :

“A path has been created in commemoration of and in the name of the significant writer Thomas Mann. This path connects the centre points of his novel “The Magic Mountain”. With the novel, Davos has secured its place in world literature. The work contributed to the high level of fame enjoyed by Davos as a spa and holiday destination.

Even today, the “Magic Mountain” draws numerous culture enthusiasts to Davos, on the hunt for the main centre points of the novel of the same name by Thomas Mann. They can now be inspired by the Thomas-Mann-Way, which runs from the Waldhotel Davos (former woodland sanatorium) at 1620 m above sea level to the Schatzalp, 1880 m above sea level. Along the 2.6 km path are ten signs, which act as “literary stations” and provide information on the connections between Davos and the works of Thomas Mann. High points of the path include the “favourite place of Hans Castorp”, the hero of the novel, whilst the way ends at Thomas-Mann-Platz on the Schatzalp, which has been established behind the botanical garden Alpinum Schatzalp.

Thomas Mann (1875–1955) came to Davos from the 12th May to the 15th June 1912, in order to visit his wife Katia, who was being treated at the woodland sanatorium. During this time he took many walks around the area above the woodland sanitorium, an area through which the Thomas-Mann-Way runs. Thomas Mann described his impressions of Davos in the novel “The Magic Mountain”, which was published in 1924.” Source

Great! I thought the ideal excursion for the afternoon. And indeed vary many things about it were ideal but not, I may say, the Thomas-Mann-Way. The website for Davos/Klosters is excellent so I had expected to pick up printed information at the Railway Station Tourist Information Office. Instead I had blank looks and was issued with a crummy map.

I had remembered some aspects of the walk from the website but obviously not everything. I didn’t commit the map to memory. I wish I had as I can now see where I went wrong and could kick myself. As you can see from the sign at the top there are no arrows to indicate the route so there’s a bit of guesswork involved. As the starting point was quite a walk away I decided to take the funicular up to the end of the walk and find my way down in reverse. So I guess that was my mistake – but an easy one to make!

On arriving at Schatzalp there is the Berghotel in all its Art Nouveau [Jugendstil] glory. I wrote about the Alpinum here yesterday.

It still has the look of a Sanatorium and air is fresh and clean and pure. Even at 8C it was fine as it was sheltered. The Hotel reception also did not have much information about TM but the kindly receptionist allowed me to wander around and take some snaps and sold me a couple of postcards and indicated the start of the TMWay.

The Dining Room

The Reception/Lobby

Art Nouveau Fireplace in a Meeting Room

The Original Hotel Games Room

I wished I had taken tea here on the verandah but I’d decided to do so at the end of the walk at the Waldhotel down in Davos. I thought they would maybe have more information on TM and the Magic Mountain/Davos connection. The only way to find out will be to go back again on another day!

The Verandah where tea is served

Outdoor Reading Pleasure : Public Benches in Chur and a Swiss Artist in England

Jun19

The above title is my translation of the name of a little leaflet I picked up in Chur Station on Sunday. In German it’s “Lesegenuss in Grünen – offentliche Lesebänke in Chur”. Anything with “reading” in the heading is bound to catch my eye. So today, when the work was done I made myself a cheese salad sandwich and headed off on the train again into Chur to find out more …

In addition to the Lesebank-Project leaflet I’d picked up a handy folded map of the city. The nearest Lesebank to Chur Station is in Friedhof Daleu. A Friedhof is a cemetery. Never mind. It turned out to be a lovely quiet shady garden with benches and chairs and I soon spotted the (empty) Lesebank on one of the main avenues.

Inside the box is a selection of books – possibly about 30 – fiction and non-fiction, for children and adults, with a contents list and a ‘visitors’ book for comments. The Lesebank is the joint project of the Bündner Volksbibliothek and the Kantonsbibliothek. Two local public libraries but I’m not too sure what the difference between them is. There are 6 of these Reading Benches throughout the city.

I wasn’t about to start reading a novel in German as the person before me had (Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse) so I picked a small book called “The loveliest gardens and parks in Switzerland” to study whilst picnicking. I made a note of two gardens – both also cemeteries – in the Graubünden Canton.

Chur has several bookshops – all of which stocked at least a shelf or two of English language books – but nothing that I hadn’t either read already or fancied the look of.

From the reading bench I went in search of the birthplace [57 Reichsgasse] of the painter and founder member of our Royal Academy Angelica Kauffman. Although born in Chur she travelled in Switzerland and Italy with her father who was also an artist and to London at the age of 25. She was a close friend of Sir Joshua Reynolds. The ground floor of her former home is now a cafe and there is a little hanging shelf unit where a few cards and books and the cafe drinks list are displayed.

Here you can see a slideshow of Kauffman’s paintings – many of which are portraits – owned by public galleries throughout the UK including some National Trust properties. The Artist Hesitating Between the Arts of Music and Painting, 1791 or 1794, [below] was acquired with the help of the Heritage Lottery Fund in 2002 for Nostell Priory, in West Yorkshire.

In and Around Anderton House : a Photo Album, 2

May13

You’ll notice on the plan shown in the previous post that there’s a circular pod containing a guest cloakroom and house bathroom. This pod narrows the corridor between the ‘public’ areas – sitting room, dining area, kitchen – and the ‘private’ sleeping quarters. It’s simple but effective.

The House Bathroom

There are three bedrooms: a double, a twin and the single study bedroom (designed for the Andertons’ teenage daughter) that reminds me so much of my student days at The Lawns, Cottingham.

The Double Bedroom

Double Bedroom Curtain Fabric – Palm Trees by Liberty

The Twin Bedroom

Twin Bedroom Curtain Fabric – Cogwheels by Heals

Single Bedroom with Curtain Fabric Nimbus by Heals

Curtain Fabric, Nimbus by Heals

Single Bedroom

Study Desk in the Single Bedroom

I was intrigued to see a separate selection of fiction on the single study bedroom shelf. Many of the titles/authors I knew had Devonian connections – Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath, Williamson’s ‘Tarka the Otter’, Thomas hardy, Charles Kingsley. Some I have made a note to read in future in order to discover whether or not there’s a connection or whether the connection is merely the decade of publication e.g. Dodie Smith’s ‘It ends in revelations’ and David Garnett’s ‘Plough over the bones: a novel about a French village in the Great War’.

Sometimes I find that hanging space at Landmark properties is at a premium. Not the case here at Anderton House. Each room had a decent built-in cupboard and set of drawers.

miladysboudoir

"There is no surer foundation for a beautiful friendship than a mutual taste in literature."

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