Jennifer Boresz Engelking’s two books on Lake Erie and its islands offer a rich, little-known history that brings the region’s cultural, environmental, and maritime past into clear focus. Through careful research and vivid narrative, Engelking illuminates the people, events, and natural forces that shaped the lake and the string of islands.
Hidden History of Lake Erie
“Author Jennifer Boresz Engelking explores the intriguing history of Lake Erie. What lies below the surface of Lake Erie? Gold coins from long-ago shipwrecks, like the tragic sinking of the G.P. Griffith. The menacing, mysterious Lake Erie Monster. How about a whiskey ship that vanished more than a century ago in the western basin? The lake is filled with little-known tales, including legends like Joe Root in Erie and legendary places like the Belle Isle Boathouse in Detroit. Tragedies, like the Ashtabula bridge disaster, and triumphs, like the day Niagara Falls was turned off, changed the way we live today.”
Lost Lake Erie
“Serene one moment and destructive the next, Lake Erie’s moods mirror its tumultuous role in history. As the site of Cleveland’s Great Lakes Exposition, the lake offered visitors a respite from the Great Depression, and Hotel Victory, once considered the world’s largest summer resort, drew thousands to Put-In-Bay. Daring postal workers dangerously crossed the ice-covered surface on hybrid “boats” and by foot. Canal Street, at the Buffalo Wharf, was once called “the Wickedest Street in America.” The Erie/ is one of thousands of ships that lie in a solemn graveyard below the surface. And rum runners turned the lake into a watery highway for illegal booze during Prohibition. Author Jennifer Boresz Engelking reveals entertaining, heartbreaking, and nostalgic stories of the lost sites, businesses and industries of Lake Erie.”
Jennifer Boresz Engelking’s two books uncover many little-known aspects of Lake Erie’s history and the lives of island communities. Through a blend of environmental context, maritime narrative, and local voices, her work enriches our understanding of a region shaped as much by water and weather as by human ingenuity and endurance. Both books are available at the Kelley’s Island Historical Association Gift Shop.
