News and views, and history and humor, about the lake I love.

"I can hear my granddad's stories of the storms out on Lake Erie, where vessels and cargos and fortunes, and sailors' lives were lost." ~ James Taylor, Millworker

Monday, January 30, 2012

"The Privacy of a Yacht"


There was a time when, if you were a resident of, say, Buffalo or Cleveland, and you wished to take a trip to Chicago, you could go there in a boat. A number of shipping companies maintained regularly scheduled routes to major port cities on the Great Lakes. Passenger traveled on luxury steamers in genuine style. While it is still possible to cruise the lakes, these are strictly gourmet affairs that must be planned well in advance. Boat travel these days is mostly localized ferry service to and among the various islands the dot the lakes. But the days of luxury cruising on the lakes is for the most part a thing of the past.

So in the spirit of nostalgia I wanted to share some advertisements from a century ago. Enjoy!




3 comments:

  1. How romantic! Sure would be nice to still have this option--I'd choose a luxury boat ride over a car trip any day (as long as I wasn't in a hurry) :-)
    Here's a nice Times article from 1876 along the same lines:
    http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50810F8345B127B93C1A81783D85F428784F9
    ~ Michele

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  2. Neat article, thanks Michele! I wish those days were still here.

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  3. The days of when the Yacht was prestigious and for the elite. All that has changed in our modern world. Nice article.

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