A crowd in straw hats and long dresses fills the wooden platform at the Lakeland, Michigan depot, with the lake on one side and the tracks on the other, waiting for boats to carry them out to cottages and resorts (c. 1900, not confirmed).
Lakeland was a resort stop on Zukey Lake on the Huron River’s Chain of Lakes. The Ann Arbor Railroad reached Lakeland in 1878, and travelers could step off the train and onto the water. By 1897, steam-powered passenger boats were running, meeting trains and shuttling people around the chain.
Do you remember the “train to boat” handoff at Lakeland — or which resort your family visited?
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