front cover of La Pointe
La Pointe
Village Outpost on Madeline Island
Hamilton Nelson Ross
Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2000

The Wisconsin Historical Society Press has republished a long-out-of-print classic of Wisconsin history, La Pointe: Village Outpost, by Hamilton Nelson Ross (1889-1957). The book, which first appeared in 1960, provides a 300-year history of La Pointe, a community on Madeline Island, one of Lake Superior's Apostle Islands.

With flair, humor, and solid scholarship, Ross tells the story of the region's evolution. Madeline Island served initially as a refuge for the local Ojibway from their enemy the Sioux before the arrival of French explorers in 1659, then an epicenter of the fur-trade era in the eighteenth century, and finally a summer vacation spot for businessmen and industrialists. Today the island attracts thousands of summer tourists who vastly outnumber the 200 or so year-round residents.

Ross first visited Madeline Island from his native Beloit as an eight-year-old, returning again and again over his lifetime to the Ross family cabin in La Pointe. His years of careful study and observation served him well. Ross told the region's story so eloquently that his book helped persuade Congress and the President in 1970 to preserve the islands in perpetuity as the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.

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front cover of Madeline Island & the Chequamegon Region
Madeline Island & the Chequamegon Region
John O. Holzhueter
Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 1974
An updated reprint of the definitive history of a storied corner of the Upper Great Lakes—Madeline Island and the Chequamegon region on Wisconsin’s Lake Superior.   A new foreword by Steve Cotherman, director of the Madeline Island Museum, brings the text of this book up to date on the history of Madeline Island and the Chequamegon region from the days before the missions to present-day tourism.  Madeline Island played a significant role in the early history of Wisconsin and was an important outpost in the fur trade. Ojibwe from Wisconsin and surrounding areas view the island as a sacred place. Other Indian Nations, such as the Huron and Ottawa, also trace their history to Madeline Island.  Today, Madeline Island and nearby Bayfield are popular tourist destinations, drawing tens of thousands of visitors every summer and throughout the winter.
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