Rough Guides - The Great Lakes

The five interconnected Great Lakes (Superior, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Huron) form the largest body of fresh water in the world, a vast inland sea that is impossible to appreciate from the shore. Though its a region of dense birch, cedar and spruce forests and rich in natural wonders Lake Superior and the northern reaches of Lake Michigan offer stunning rocky peninsulas, craggy cliffs, pine-covered islands, mammoth dunes and deserted beaches its cities such as Chicago, Detroit and Minneapolis that stand out most, along with complex histories that encompass Native American heroes such as Tecumseh, French fur traders, industrial giants such as Ford and towering skyscrapers.

Once heavily populated by Native American tribes, including the Ojibwe (Chippewa), Ontario, Miami and Potawatomi, the lakes became a focus for French fur-trading posts in the seventeenth century. In 1787 the newly independent United States formally organized the Northwest Territory , and a series of one-sided treaties beginning in 1795, backed up by brutal military campaigns, forced out the Native Americans. Settlers poured in, and the remaining tribes were forcibly removed from the region in the 1830s. One by one, states were carved out of the Northwest Territory: Ohio (1803), Indiana (1816), Illinois (1818), Michigan (1837), Wisconsin (1848) and Minnesota (1858). Thanks to steel, oil, lumber, cattle processing and finally automobiles, by the early twentieth century the Great Lakes region was one of the richest in the nation, but recession in the 1970s ravaged the regional economy and gave the area the unpleasant title of Rust Belt . Since then, cities such as Cleveland and even Detroit (which went bankrupt in 2013) have revived their fortunes to some degree. Today the older, more industrial states of the Great Lakes region are often considered traditional Midwest , in contrast to the vast farmland states of the Great Plains (see Chapter 10), though it is the latter that are increasingly much further to the right in terms of politics and religion.

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PICTURED ROCKS NATIONAL LAKESHORE, MI

Take a boat tour on the Chicago River to soak up the Windy Citys diverse architectural and cultural heritage.

Learn about Americas greatest president at his adopted hometown and final resting place.

From rockabilly to Motown to punk its all here inside this absorbing museum.

Post-industrial dystopia or new city arising? Explore one of Americas most intriguing, edgy and creative cities.

Multihued sandstone cliffs, spectacular sand dunes and picturesque waterfalls dot this remote corner of Michigans Upper Peninsula.

The home and studios of Frank Lloyd Wright offer a unique insight into the mind of the nations most controversial architect.

Explore the north coast of Lake Superior from Duluth to the Canadian border, lined with dense forests and plunging cascades.

For details on getting to the Great Lakes and travelling across the rest of the USA, as well as information on entry requirements and currency, plus travelling with children, national holidays and sport, turn to the section.

Studded with a bewitching ensemble of skyscrapers that rise up from Lake Michigan, CHICAGO is one of the great American cities, forever linked with the gangsters of Al Capone, the blues of Muddy Waters and the gravity-defying dunks of Michael Jordan. Its bike-friendly lakefront and jaw-dropping skyline (featuring the 110-storey Willis Tower ), best viewed from the boats on the Chicago River, are perhaps its most memorable features despite some world-class museums, its Chicagos icons and their legacies that intrigue most visitors, from the Blues Brothers to its gut-busting deep-dish pizzas.

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Founded in the 1830s, the city was virtually destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, an event that sparked a building boom that has never really ended. Hosting the Worlds Fair Columbian Exposition in 1893 announced Chicagos arrival on the global stage, but its steady growth since then has been a stormy affair, often blighted by what the rest of America dubs Chicago-style politics and one of the most segregated communities in the nation. Today its a vast, sprawling conglomerate of neighbourhoods ranging from Polish to Mexican, but despite recent improvements, South Side Chicago is still grappling with high levels of poverty and one of the highest murder rates in the US disproportionately affecting the African American population, as highlighted in the Spike Lee movie Chi-raq (2015). Visitors are rarely affected however, and most of the areas of interest are safe, friendly and host everything from inventive theatre to live music and festivals such as Lollapalooza (every July in Grant Park).