National Poetry Month

In celebration of April as U.S. National Poetry Month, I thought I would share poems from Lake County residents.

The Academy of American Poets began National Poetry Month in 1996. It is now held every April, when publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, libraries, schools and poets around the country celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture.

One of my favorite published poems about Lake County is The Legend of Mish-i-mi-nong by Robert Pearce of Chicago. Robert was inspired by Crab Apple Island on Fox Lake, the lotus beds, and Native American legends. He completed the poem in 1899 and sent it to his father, Frank Pearce, who was living in Leavenworth, Kansas.

In turn, Frank illustrated the poem and sent it back to his son with a note: "I have endeavored to engross and illustrate it with my pen as a birth-day gift to you. May you find interwoven in each line and page the love of your affectionate Father." Even this generation's letters are poetic!


This is one of 10 pages from the poem, which was published in red leather binding in 1909. Dunn Museum 93.6.1

The beauty of the lotus beds in Lake County's Chain o' Lakes region inspired many. An excerpt from a poem written by Colonel John Vidvard of Grass Lake in 1916 reads:

From far off India's shores there came one day a mighty wind,
That carried in its shapeless arms a seed of wondrous kind;
And loathe, foresooth, to let it fall on uncongenial land,
Soared and soared o'er mount and vail and oaks that grandly stand
'Till Illinois shores were reached, where mid rice and break,
The wind let fall this precious seed in the waters of Grass Lake.

Vidvard was a great booster and conservator of the lotus. However, he mistakenly identified the local plants as Egyptian lotus (nelumbium speciosum). This was a common misconception, no doubt fueled by the exotic appeal of a plant making its way across the world to blossom on our shores. The species of lotus that grows in the Chain O' Lakes is the American lotus (nelumbo lutea), a native to the northeastern United States. (Postcard of Lotus on Grass Lake, circa 1907, Dunn Museum 61.8.2)

In 1896, Robert Darrow compiled and published, Poems by Residents of Lake County, Ill. Robert wrote in his preface that "This little volume is published for the purpose of showing that Lake County has many writers of poetry, of whom it may be proud."

To herald the spring, I chose the following poem by Nannie Bliss Colby (1851-1924) from Darrow's book. Nannie married Byron Colby and resided in Libertyville for many years. 

Spring
by Nannie Bliss Colby

Winter has flung his sceptre down,
His dreary reign is over;
And in the meadows, erst so brown,
We catch a glimpse of clover.

The maples wave their crimson tips.
In every breeze that passes,
The violets kiss with dainty lips,
The pale, sweet, springing grasses.

The crocus lists its golden head
to catch the sun's first glances,
the brook, along its pebbly bed,
With merry ripple dances.

The lilac nods each lovely plume
At snow-drops, upward springing;
In all the air a faint perfume,
Sweet hints of spring are bringing.

The wild birds trill their sweetest song
Of greeting, praise or pleasure;
And mother earth, ice-bound so long,
Yields up her choicest treasure.

Oh, spring, thou time of birds and flowers,
We give thee fondest greeting;
Would we could stay thy passing hours,
And make thy joys less fleeting.

~ ~ ~

These samples are a small introduction to poetry. Hopefully they inspire other Lake Countians to take up pen and paper to create beautiful prose.

Vidvard Point, Grass Lake

One of the most colorful residents of Lake County's past was Colonel John P. Vidvard (1852-1918) of Grass Lake. 

Now Vidvard's story can be more fully told thanks to a significant donation of photographs, postcards, and related ephemera made to the museum by his descendants earlier this year. Vidvard was born in Utica, New York and came to Chicago in 1884. 

From 1899 to 1913, he was one of the owners of the Sans Souci amusement park in Chicago. This was one of the city's first amusement parks and was located on the western side of Cottage Grove Avenue, just across 60th Street from the southern end of Washington Park. The park's main entrance resembled the exterior of a German beer hall. The park featured large shade trees, a Japanese tea garden, ornamental shrubbery, electric fountains, nighttime lighting, and a casino. Like many Chicagoans, Vidvard sought the fresh air and open space of country life and became captivated by the Chain o’ Lakes region north of the city. About 1897, he bought property on Grass Lake and built a home which he named, Lotus Cottage at Vidvard Point. As you might expect from a wealthy man who had operated an amusement park, Vidvard liked to entertain. He invited his large circle of friends to his home for monstrous clambakes where he expounded on the beauty and significance of the lotus, and where he sometimes hosted Native American ceremonies. His invitations stated, “The fire starts at 4 a.m., and I wish my friends could be here in time to see me cover the red-hot bowlers and watch the lid come off the steamed seafood.” Clam bake, August 28, 1897. Colonel Vidvard is standing behind his wife and cooks. Note the clam pit mound at left - LCDM 2010.8 The bakes included: 125 spring chickens, 135 lobsters, 2,000 clams, 100 pounds of bluefish, 18 dozen ears of sweet corn, two barrels of seaweed and 40 gallons of chowder. When Vidvard wasn't entertaining guests, he went to his favorite clubhouse on Grass Lake, the Lotus Inn, which was only 350 feet down the beach from his home. The inn also carried the name of something very dear to Vidvard, the lotus. Vidvard used his 200-acre home to entertain hundreds of friends, and subsequently educated them on the importance of conserving the lotus and their habitat.