| Step into Bayfield’s past and experience the city through the “Gilded Age” |
Bayfield, Wis. (July 10, 2024) – Bayfield, Wisconsin, may seem like a tiny tourist town to the untrained eye, but echoes of Bayfield’s early history and dramatic boomtown era can still be seen if you know where to look.
Local historian Elizabeth Downey is exposing Bayfield’s past through historic walking tours. Each tour features 15 informative stops complete with vintage photographs and commentary along a half-mile loop of downtown Bayfield. Tour guests will learn all about Bayfield’s early days as a city in the mid-1800s and the dramatic upheaval of the boomtown days that changed the landscape and community forever.
“I designed the tour to be interesting to both locals and tourists- there’s something for everybody. I love seeing peoples’ jaws drop as I share some of the facts about that time period- it surprises even those who have lived here their entire lives,” said Downey.
In the late 1800s, Great Lakes steamships would arrive sometimes up to 10 times a day in the summer, dropping off as many as 4,000 tourists in Bayfield at once. Facts like these are what prompted Downey to dive deeper into Bayfield’s early history and the dramatic changes and population fluxes of its own version of the “Gilded Age,” from about 1870 to 1910.
“I’ve always loved learning about history, especially the 1800s. I realized that Bayfield had its own version of the “Gilded Age,” due to the huge changes brought on by the lumber, mining, and fishing industries, accompanied by shocking population growth- at one point, Bayfield’s population expanded 600% within the span of just 10 years!”
Downey moved to the Bayfield area in 2009 to study at Northland College, where she began with a 1.5-year program called Superior Connections, a curriculum that used the local region as a lens to learn about history, sociology, science, and art.
“I fell in love with this area and the many layers of fascinating history that are just beneath the surface,” says Downey, who chose to continue living here after graduating from Northland in 2013 and says she can’t imagine being anywhere else.
Tours are $15 per person and are offered multiple times per week. Tours can be booked on-line at www.BayfieldHistoricalWalkingTours.com and the full calendar is available through October.
