A book, published in 1999 through the University of Michigan's Bentley Historical Library consisting of short descriptions of ten walks within and around Ann Arbor. Originally published by Judge Noah Cheever in 1899 in the Michigan Alumnus, the modern re-issue includes historical photos and commentary on changes in the century since original publication (such as missing buildings, road realignments and the transition of the formerly rural to the much less safe urban) and how they affect the walks.
Title: Pleasant Walks and Drives about Ann Arbor [Michigan Historical Collections; Issue 46 of Bulletin (Bentley Historical Library); Volume 46 of Blackwell Series in Finance] Author: Noah Wood Cheever (1839-1905) Editors: John Ray Knott, Alicia Lavalle Edition illustrated Foreword: Frances X Blouin, Jr Published: Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan, 1999 (original from the University of Michigan) ISBN: 0966820517, 9780966820515 Length: 32 pages
On the web
- Bentley Historical Library: Pleasant Walks and Drives about Ann Arbor online version
The Boulevard, Cascade Glen, School Girls' Glen , Lover's Lane, and Picnic Island, were all familiar nameplaces for the Ann Arbor community. Judge Noah Cheever, who had first arrived in Ann Arbor as a student in 1859, printed a small pamphlet entitled Pleasant Walks and Drives About Ann Arbor. "Some of them will be rather long to designate as walks," he forewarns, "but all who posses a bicycle or a horse or a horse and carriage, can readily enjoy the longest of them." It was not unusual for casual walks to extend for miles, according to accounts left within diaries and letters.
Shelved in the downtown branch of the Ann Arbor District Library is a short and slender volume entitled Pleasant Walks and Drives about Ann Arbor, a compilation of pieces written on the subject in 1899 by Judge Noah Cheever. Published in 1999 by the Bentley Historical Library, the book is also available via Google Books. The fact that this book was put together is great news for history nerds like myself who like to piece together historical references that have fallen out of use with their contemporary incarnations.
- Ann Arbor Observer: The Underground Railroad in Ann Arbor (Cheever quoted about John Lowry)