According to an anonymous writer, William Dalrymple came to Bayfield for his health, a reason why a great number of visitors came to the village.

By 1882 William Dalrymple had devised a plan for Bayfield based upon the fact that the town was at the geographical center of the country and had a deep natural harbor at the West end of Lake Superior making it, in his words, “the natural terminus of the great system of deep water navigation formed by the chain of lakes and their connecting rivers, the Erie Canal and the Hudson River, and the St. Lawrence River, which connect this deep water harbor through a channel with the Atlantic Ocean.”

Learn about his plan, the trials and tribulations, and the impact it had on the Bayfield area. Click the image to view the full story. (62-page PDF)