Green Book in Michigan: Inside the mission to preserve Black travel sites

• Michigan is starting deep-dive research into Black travel sites from the 1930s to 1960s
• The effort focuses on the 100 or so remaining sites once listed in the Green Book for African American travelers
• Preservation is the initial goal, along with uncovering the undertold history

WOODLAND PARK, Newaygo County — Locals call it the “four corners.” Travelers driving through the quiet spot near Woodland Lake 40 miles north of Grand Rapids may see few signs that, a century ago, the rural crossroads was the hub of one of Michigan’s most popular Black resorts.  

But the lake and surrounding hamlet of Woodland Park, in Merrill Township, are among more than 200 Michigan attractions once featured in the Negro Motorist Green Book, a guide that helped Black travelers in the US find safe travel stops and destinations before the civil rights era. 

The state is on a mission starting this spring to identify remaining Green Book sites like Woodland Park to make sure they’re not lost to history.  

Today, fewer cottages dot the lake’s shoreline after resort traffic dipped starting in the mid-1960s. Only the hearth remains of one popular inn; another once-popular hotel is boarded up, waiting for restoration. Just 450 or so people now make small Merrill Township their year-round home, down at least 200 in just three years.

But by summer, generations of African American families from across the US will still return to Woodland Park, reveling in the beauty of the lake and sharing in decades of summer memories.

“A lot of people call Woodland Park our little piece of heaven,” said Ziyadah Shakir, 78, whose ties there span six generations.  “When people could not vacation anywhere else, they were very happy there.”

Shakir is participating in community and regional efforts — including by the Fremont Area Community Foundation — to preserve the resort area in northeast Newaygo County. The effort is due to the location’s prominence for Black travelers between the Great Depression and the 1960s.

This spring’s initiative launched by Michigan’s State Historic Preservation Office is expected to aid that effort, along with shining a spotlight on the state’s other remaining links to the Negro Motorist Green Book. 

The properties are a “physical testament to the African American quest for freedom, equality, and reprieve in places they could call their own,” according to a historical analysis of Woodland Park made for its preservation efforts.

However, the report notes, the sites are vulnerable, “as many African American historical sites are at risk of disappearing, “

Thirty years of Michigan-based listings in the Green Book are the basis for the statewide hunt for the surviving sites so that they can take their place in state history. 

African Americans relied on the Green Book from 1936 to the mid-1960s as a segregation-era travel aide to find everything from a beauty shop on Hastings Street in Detroit’s vibrant Paradise Valley to a rooming house on what might be a days-long drive to the famed Idlewild resort near Baldwin, just a few miles from Woodland Park.

Thanks to the guide, Black travelers in Michigan learned they could count on a safe and friendly welcome at Parkview Cabins in Mackinac City, a fishing store in Three Rivers and scores of rooming houses in still-rural places like Hartford and Grand Junction.

Related:

• A trip through Michigan’s Green Book sites in photos
• Michigan gets $75,000 for preservation of Green Book sites that served African Americans
• ‘Reparative’ discussions consider how I-375 rebuild will honor historic Black neighborhoods
• Once a gem, African-American resort community seeks new identity

A year of research starting this month will help to ferret out details on all of those sites and nearly 100 more out of the 230 locations listed in Michigan’s pages of the Green Book. By the time work concludes in early 2027, one of the sites will be submitted for the National Register of Historic Places. 

The project is part of a larger initiative to expand the inclusion of underrepresented communities in Michigan’s National Register-listed properties. Funding comes from a $75,000 grant from the National Parks Service through its initiative dedicated to preserving African American civil rights history. 

While research and documentation is the early focus, the state has aspirations of boosting interaction with the sites, said Nathan Nietering of the state’s historic preservation office.

“Our goal is that these efforts will lead to more, like community-led programming, tours and other opportunities to further elevate these important, previously undertold stories,” Nietering said. 

“It’s too early to know what new initiatives may result, but we’re excited to see them unfold.”

The Green Book

The National Parks Service estimates that fewer than 20% of the nation’s Green Book listings still exist. 

Well-known destinations like Detroit, Flint and Ann Arbor were well represented in the Green Books. But smaller towns across Michigan also had safe places for travelers seeking services, like rooming houses where travelers stopped on their way to resorts — a journey that, without interstate highways, could take a few days. 

“We know a lot about cities in Michigan and historic places that are important in these cities,” state project manager Katie Kolokithas said. They’re important to this initiative, she added, but “we wanted to try to find some of these places that we think are still out there we just don't know yet. “

One of the fun aspects to the early research, Kolokithas said, has been finding Green Book sites all over the state, from New Buffalo to Mackinaw City. 

A private house in Grindstone City, at the tip of Michigan’s Thumb area,  “looks just the same as it did in historic photos. So that's pretty cool.”

‘We may never know some of them’

Less encouraging is learning how many of the historic sites no longer remain in larger cities. Those in Paradise Valley and Black Bottom districts of Detroit were demolished to make way for I-375. One site is standing in Flint. In Lansing, Kolokithas said, “everything has been demolished.”

“We’re kind of coming to terms with the fact that we may never know some of them, because a lot, especially in the rural parts of Michigan, didn't have physical addresses,” Kolokithas said. 

Even local historic societies know little about some sites, further driving the urgency to discover what remains and document it for the future.

Kefentse Chike, assistant professor of African American Studies at Wayne State University, said that Green Book sites in Detroit and Idlewild attracted people from around the country.

“Not only celebrities, but scholars, politicians and a whole host of people.”

But recreation was only one aspect of the travel guide, Chike emphasized. Car travel increased starting in the 1930s, making it easier to visit family across the US, including in the South. African Americans “had to be mindful to avoid” the so-called “sundown towns” when they weren’t safe after dark, he said. 

“The Green Book would help people know where they can stop, go to the bathroom, rent a hotel,” Chike said. “I remember hearing stories as a child about taking these trips, and … packing a lunch because they knew once they got to a certain point, they could not go into restaurants.”

Also notable at Woodland Park and Idlewild resorts is how they thrived not just as vacation communities but as places where African Americans could buy land and build cottages during a time when segregation laws and lending discrimination capped housing options for Black Americans, including in Michigan. 

“They couldn't buy a home because of the Jim Crow rules and regulations, and so when they were afforded the opportunity to actually buy their own land and build their own house, they jumped at it, “ Shakir said of Woodland Park’s early residents.

It’s important for people to know that history, Chike said.

The vestiges of segregation still exist in racism, Chike said, “and I think we need to be mindful of that … and how African Americans responded to those challenges.”

Prior to launching the statewide study, Michigan’s historic preservation office conducted community-specific historical research on Black experiences. The first was in 2016 with a project on Detroit’s civil rights history; in-depth projects followed in towns with robust Black communities, including Inkster, Niles and Muskegon. 

Combined, all of the work makes a more accurate representation of earlier life in Michigan, Kolokithas said. 

“A large percentage of what was previously identified and designated (as historical) was lumber baron history, or very fancy 19th century homes,” she said. “It was not necessarily things that are associated with African American history.”

‘Baby sister’ to Idlewild

The Kelsonia Inn no longer welcomes paying guests to the shore of Woodland Lake, but it still represents the rich tourism history at Woodland Park’s four-corners hub.

“Enjoy the country air, swimming and boating,” the Inn — perched on a hill right at the lakeshore — advertised in the Green Book.

The inn was owned by Lola Tyson, Shakir’s grandmother, and the family still owns it, staying in it themselves and often bringing friends. Opening the former inn every season for family helps to preserve ties to its past as a place where, Shakir said, “Black travelers could go and vacation in peace.”

Woodland Park arose in 1921 from the vision of Marion E. Auther and Ella Auther of Ohio. Marion Auther had taken a job selling lots at then-new Idlewild resort, finding success by advertising in publications like the Chicago Defender. 

As Idlewild grew into a vibrant resort, the Authers “began to dream about opening a second resort catering to a clientele looking for a quieter, more restful experience,” according to the website holytoledohistory.com. Eventually, this history site said, “Woodland Park blossomed under the Authers' vision.”

Buildings popped up around the lake, as buyers created rentals to meet the demand for the serenity of Woodland Park. But visitors could still partake in the active nightlife at Idlewild, with a bus making the drive for shows from famous entertainers including Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Dinah Washington and Sarah Vaughan. 

“Woodland Park was sort of like the baby sister (to Idlewild),” Shakir said. “We had the beautiful lake and the peaceful living and the backyard parties and the club houses, and so they would come to Woodland Park to stay if they wanted just peace away from the club action.”

While the Kelsonia still stands, the other corners have changed. A playground replaced the general store after it burned down. The Pine Cone Tavern is long gone, more recently replaced with the Common Ground park, dedicated to long-time resident Yvonne Woodward, sister of Malcolm X. Woodward died in 2003.

Across the community, like at many other Black travel sites, many additional buildings disappeared as the resort lost its vacation luster amid the broadening of travel opportunities.

Today, the area struggles with its population decline. Many remaining residents are poor; there’s no industry there. Amenities of a resort area no longer exist, though Woody’s Bar and Grill — in business since 1945 — still opens four days a week. Woody’s, Oh Dear’s hotel and the Kelsonia are among the sites proposed for revitalization in the community.

“A lot has been lost,” Shakir said.

Shakir and others who advocate for Woodland Park’s history note that the area’s fundamental asset — its natural features — offer opportunities for the future. Yet restoring Woodland Park should honor its past, too, they caution. That includes adding historic designation to set building and development standards.

Denise Suttles, who lives in Woodland Park year-round, also would like to see younger African Americans buy into the area and revive it for what it offers today and in honor of the decades of visitors.

“It makes us proud that we’re a part of that legacy,” Suttles said. “We need to remember.”