Reviewed by: Little Traverse Bay: Past and Present by Michael R. Federspiel Aaron Shapiro Michael R. Federspiel, Little Traverse Bay: Past and Present. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2014. 280 pp. $39.99. In this richly illustrated book, Michael Federspiel and Rebecca Zeiss provide a fascinating historical tour of the towns of Little Traverse Bay. Focusing the majority of their attention on Petoskey, the authors also explore Harbor Springs and several small summer communities like Bay View, Harbor Point, and Wequetonsing. Travel brochures, maps, and historical images dot the introduction, reinforcing their argument that the area developed on the backs of tourism for the wealthy. Photographs capture subtle and overt changes to the landscape across generations of both tourists and residents. Early pioneers like Ignatius Petoskey and Hiram Obed Rose are profiled as part of the larger story of regional development, which included white settlement and Native American displacement, railroad and steamship travel, and efforts to promote the region’s natural beauty. Towns developed differently—Petoskey relied much more on the Grand Rapids and Indiana as well as the Pere Marquette railroads—while Harbor Springs and its deep harbor attracted the steamship trade. The Pere Marquette depot on Petoskey’s waterfront still stands and serves as home to the Little Traverse Historical Society, one of many examples of adaptive reuse and change throughout the book. The Petoskey chapter is the most comprehensive, offering a rich narrative of the town’s development and a sense of place. Given the desire to orient the visitor, the section would benefit from a map of the town in addition to the historical birds-eye view and the map covered by a letter that appear on the opening pages. Readers unfamiliar with the streetscape may struggle with locating destinations. Despite this minor qualm, the chapter captures Petoskey’s development in rich detail, highlighting old railroad stations, hotels, stores, and streetscapes. Here Zeiss’s images bring the stories of individual places up to the present—whether examining the site of the Arlington House hotel which is now waterfront parkland or an institution like the Perry Hotel, whose brick edifice still welcomes visitors to Petoskey. The story of the suburban “dummy” trains around Little Traverse Bay is intriguing. The second largest local transportation network in Michigan outside of Detroit in the early twentieth century suggests that despite cultivating a sense of remoteness to attract those escaping the city, the region relied on modern transportation to move people through the landscape. [End Page 152] These local trains competed with and complemented the steamers that served as water taxis traversing the Bay. Tourists expected the comforts of home even in a place promoted as a healthful escape. Today, people traverse the region by both automobile and bicycle, and the book effectively highlights changes that resulted from cars as well as the Little Traverse Wheelway—a nineteenth century path updated for modern leisurely walking and cycling. Turning their attention to specific summer communities in the final chapter, Federspiel and Zeiss reinforce the impact of tourism. Bay View and Wequetonsing had religious origins while Harbor Point provided an exclusive destination for summering families. The authors suggest that bonds formed in the late nineteenth century continue with descendants still visiting these locations. While Zeiss captures some domestic Victorian architecture in Bay View and extant structures in Wequetonsing, the authors note that Harbor Point does not allow public access. Even if photographs are unavailable, a brief discussion of Harbor Point’s built environment provided some consistency with the analysis of the other communities. Throughout the book, Zeiss’s photographs help link past and present while highlighting intricate architectural details. The combination of archival images and contemporary photographs is effective in telling stories of Bay communities, but winter appears in only a couple images. While regional boosters might not find it helpful to remind people of a blustery January day (thus leaving fewer winter images in the archives), the book could pay more attention to all four seasons, particularly since the conclusion alludes to the seasonal nature of the Bay’s communities. Organizing the book by seasons instead of town would reduce the historical emphasis of the work and this reviewer is not suggesting...