Michigan's "Black Eden": The Resort Town Where Black America Vacationed

Tucked into the woods of Lake County, about 75 miles north of Grand Rapids, sits a little community called Idlewild — and for half a century it was one of the most important vacation spots in Black America. Founded in 1912, Idlewild was one of the very few places in the country where, during the era of segregation, African Americans could not only vacation but actually buy land and build a cottage of their own.

And come they did. As Idlewild scholar Ronald J. Stephens of Purdue University documents, “By the 1950s and early 1960s, Idlewild reached the height of its popularity. During those years nearly 25,000 vacationers made their way to the community,” and at its peak “Idlewild boasted more than 300 black-owned businesses.” They came from Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland and Indianapolis to swim, fish, ride horses, and dance the night away. The nightclubs — the Paradise Club, the Flamingo — booked the biggest names of the age. Louis Armstrong, Della Reese, Sarah Vaughan, T-Bone Walker, the Four Tops, a young Jackie Wilson: they all played Idlewild, which earned the nickname “the Summer Apollo of Michigan.”

The guest list reads like a who’s who of Black history. Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, the pioneering surgeon, built a summer home here. NAACP co-founder W.E.B. Du Bois visited. Cosmetics millionaire Madam C.J. Walker invested in the area.

Here’s the bittersweet twist: the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which finally opened other resorts to Black travelers, also drew vacationers away, and Idlewild quieted down. But the community never disappeared, and folks are working hard to keep its remarkable story alive.