1899 tells-and shows-exactly what L. Frank Baum experienced at Macatawa Park the very summer he was writing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. From the long board walks through the woods, to the groups of cottages said to have given inspiration for Munchkinland, to much more. This entry in the Vintage Photo Album Series focuses on a 110-plus-year-old vacation photo album assembled by Hattie A. Talcott of her summer of 1899 at a mystical Chicago summer playland called Macatawa Park. She traveled by horse cab and overnight steamer across Lake Michigan to get there as did much of Chicago's high society-including, as it turns out, L. Frank Baum! You see 1899 was an extremely important summer for L. Frank Baum, and Macatawa Park was an extremely important place as his favorite summer place provided inspiration for important aspects of the beloved The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. See what similarities you can find in the photos! In 1899, author William Bollman melds Talcott's amateur photographs (taken with a turn-of-the-century Kodak No. 2 Bulls-Eye camera), with an abridged version of L. Frank Baum's satirical classic Tamawaca Folks to give the reader a sense of living in L. Frank Baum's shoes if but for that one important summer. These uncanny photographs-never before published-show us the actual life settings that undoubtedly inspired numerous aspects in both The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Tamawaca Folks, in this entry in the Trip Back in Time: Vintage Photo Album Series. 1899 L. FRANK BAUM's OZ-Inspiring Macatawa Park By WILLIAM BOLLMAN Trafford Publishing Copyright © 2013 William Bollman All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-4669-8316-8 Contents Foreword...................................................................xiPrologue...................................................................xiiiTamawaca Folks.............................................................1Epilogue...................................................................79 Excerpt CHAPTER 1 TAMAWACA FOLKS By L. Frank BaumFeaturing Hattie's vintage photos from 1899 EXPLANATIVE Tamawaca exists, and is as beautiful as I have described it. I chose it asthe scene of my story because I once passed an entire summer there andwas fascinated by its incomparable charm. The middle West has no spotthat can compete with it in loveliness. TAMAWACA FOLKS When Jarrod finally sold out the Crosbys he had a chance to breathefreely for the first time in years. The Crosbys had been big ranch ownersand herders, mine owners, timber and mill owners, bankers, brokers,bucket-shop manipulators and confirmed bull-dozers and confidence-men.They played the game for big stakes always and won by sheer nerve andaudacity. Jarrod was their lawyer and they kept him in hot water everyminute. As fate would have it, on a balmy spring day he met an old friend—aDr. Brush—who was a prominent and highly respected clergyman. Saidthe doctor: "You need a change, Jarrod. Why don't you go to some quiet, pleasantsummer resort, and loaf until fall?" said Dr. Brush. "Where can I find such a place?" asked Jarrod. "Why, any of the Lake Michigan resorts are desirable—Tamawaca, BayView, Charlevoix or Petoskey. I've been to Tamawaca a couple summersmyself, and like it immensely. It is n't so fashionable as Charlevoix andPetoskey, but it is the most beautiful place I have ever seen, bar none." "What's there?" enquired Jarrod, listlessly "Lake Michigan, to begin with; and Tamawaca Pool, which is reallya lovely inland lake. You'll find there good fishing and bathing, a nobleforest running down to the water's edge, pretty cottages, nestled amongthe trees, lots of ozone, and quiet till you can't rest." "Eh?" "I mean quiet so you CAN rest." "It sounds quite promising," said Jarrod. "Guess I'll go. My wiferemarked yesterday we ought to escape the summer's heat on the children'saccount. This idea will please her-and it pleases me. And hunt. How's thehotel, Brush?" "Bad as possible. Take a cottage. That's the only way to enjoy life." "How can I get a cottage?" "Oh, ask Wilder, when you get to Tamawaca. There are always cottagesto rent. But stay! you might take Grant's place. He's a St. Louis man, and Iunderstand his cottage is for rent." "Thank you very much." "Who is Wilder?" Jarrod asked his friend. "Wilder! Oh, I forgot you don't know Tamawaca," said Dr. Brush. "Therefore you don't know Wilder. Wilder is Tamawaca." "I see," returned Jarrod, nodding. "Oh, no you don't. You think you see, I've no doubt. But there is onlyone Wilder upon earth, and perhaps that is fortunate. You've been in withthose pirate Crosbys for years. Well, Wilder is the Crosby—in other wordsthe pirate—of Tamawaca. See now?" "He runs things, eh?" "Yes; for Wilder." A few days later the Jarrods—bag and baggage, parents andchildren-travelled up to Chicago and landed in the morning at theAuditorium Annex. A little fat man stood before the counter in front ofJarrod and winked saucily at the clerk. "Gimme