Sep 4, 2023
The End of Summer. Illinois Beach, September 3, 2023
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The End of Summer. Illinois Beach, September 3, 2023
illinois beach state park, sept 2022.
Sit on the rocks?
Yes
No
“I wanna live in a land of lakes, where the great waves break, and the night runs right into the day...”
-I Will Be Back One Day//Lord Huron
Lake Zurich and Lake Michigan
Yesterday’s reblog of gregador’s beautiful photos of the Hotel Lenhart in Bemus Point, New York reminded me of this magnificent hotel in Zion, Illinois that I recalled from my distant youth camping on the nearby shore of Lake Michigan at Illinois Beach State Park. My mom, a Chicagoan, regaled me with tales of straitlaced Zion from her youth, founded as a religious settlement in the very early 1900s.
The sight of this amazing building made an indelible impression on my adolescent brain. It was not only the outstanding historical landmark of Zion, but the largest wooden structure in the entire state of Illinois at the time of its construction. Alas, it fell into disrepair in the 1970s and was demolished in 1979. Its signature dome was saved by fundraising citizens, and survives to this day.
Images above from a blog post about the town, its hotel and its dome by the Lake County, Illinois History blog, which I was lucky to find through some Pinterest posts or pins or something with a lot of lo-res photos I couldn’t use.