Vintage Views Along the West Michigan Pike: From Sand Trails to US-31

by M. Christine Byron, Thomas R. Wilson

Vintage Views Along the West Sand Trails to US-31 is a pictorial history of Michigan's most famous road. The historic West Michigan Pike, originally M-11, was the first continuous, improved road between Michigan City and Mackinaw City. This route along the Lake Michigan coast opened West Michigan to automobile travel and tourism. The book depicts the adventure and romance of motoring on Michigan s most prominent early highway. Vintage postcards, photographs, maps, and ephemera illustrate this journey as you time-travel through the beautiful West Michigan landscape and quaint towns to hotels and cabins, tourist camps and state parks, and other stops along the road.

248 pages, Hardcover

First published June 8, 2011

About the author

Christine and Tom have drawn extensively from their own personal collection of postcards and travel ephemera, as well as using material borrowed from private collectors, archives, libraries and museums for inclusion in this book. As the 50th anniversary of the Mackinac Bridge is celebrated this year, the Mackinac Straits region continues to be one of the premiere vacation areas in Michigan. Anyone who has ever visited this region will be interested in this unique historical portrait.

The Library of Michigan has selected both the authors two previous books, Vintage Views of Leelanau County (2002) and Vintage Views of the Charlevoix-Petoskey Region (2005) as Michigan Notable Books.

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Reviews

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vintage views made me appreciate our roads even more as I thought about transportation by horse, by train and by steamship. What a great difference to just hop in your car and drive off to your destination nowadays without having to worry about tires, sticking in mud, and getting grounded in sand. Early tourism at its best is the subject explored in this book. Love the photos, postcards and accompanying history. Makes me glad to live in and enjoy Michigan!!

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun book to read. We live in SW Michigan, and portions of Old M-11 are in the immediate area. The photos and post cards presented in the book are interesting, and I found myself "googling" several of the highlighted resorts and hotels to see if any are still in operation. This book will remain on my coffee table for others to peruse.