Great Lakes Island Escapes

“Part travelogue and part fact-filled guidebook, Maureen Dunphy’s Great Lakes Island Escapes: Ferries and Bridges to Adventure presents the reader with an insightful and engaging account of the history, natural wonders, recreational opportunities, and local flavor of more than two dozen Great Lakes Basin islands.”

— Phil Porter

Director of Mackinac State Historic Parks

“As a kid growing up on Grosse Ile, I was considered an ‘Islander.’ In Great Lakes Island Escapes, Maureen Dunphy skillfully weaves the information you need in order to visit with tales of why adventures in the middle of the Great Lakes are always superior to those on the mainland.”

— Jim Dufresne

Author, Isle Royale National Park: Foot Trails and Water Routes

“In Great Lakes Island Escapes, Maureen Dunphy presents the islands as a network of understanding. Called minisan in Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe), these little bits of earth are the ears and eyes and bellybuttons of Gichigaming, the single system of five connected Great Lakes. These are the places where senses are heightened, where the connection between land, water, and life is more apparent. In each stopping place, Dunphy shares the necessary details for navigation and recounts the way spirits are lifted, moose are greeted, lives are remembered, and fires are kindled. She helps readers see the balance between silent ancient gardens and the hum of ferry motors, lighthouses and shipwrecks, the natural and the hand-hewn. Mostly she helps readers hear the call of the lakes and the little islands strung like stars around them. It would be hard to read this book without heading for one of the islands in real life or your next dream.”

— Margaret Noodin

Assistant professor in English and American Indian studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and author of Weweni (Wayne State University Press, 2015)