At the turn of the century, when Chicago was a developing powerhouse, Geneva Lake was the playground of the city’s rich and famous. Between 1870 and the Great Depression, Chicago’s merchant and manufacturing aristocracy entertained itself by constructing summer palaces, each one grander than the next, around this lovely spring-fed lake 75 miles northwest of the city. One real estate baron purchased the Buddhist temple that had been Ceylon’s exhibition hall at the World’s Fair of 1893, shipped it in pieces to Geneva, reconstructed it, and moved in. Ceylon Court is gone, but enough of these fabulous old homes still stand to give a visitor a heady sense of what life was like for the privileged few before income taxes and labor unions began to level the playing field a little. With that in mind, here are three top-of-the-list suggestions:
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The other not-to-be-missed attraction in the Geneva Lake area is Yerkes Observatory (414-245- 5555), on the west side of the village of Williams Bay (on Observatory Drive off Highway 67, five miles from Lake Geneva). This research outpost of the University of Chicago is only open to visitors on Saturdays (afternoon tours, June through September, are at 1:30, 2:15, and 3; morning tours at 10 and 11 run October through May), but it’s worth planning the rest of your weekend around it. In these days of Hubble trouble, Yerkes’s nearly century-old refracting telescope–the world’s largest–is awesome. It’s been in use since 1897 and is still providing valuable information. You won’t get to look through it, but the chance to enter the 90-foot-diameter dome, where the 63-foot telescope sits like a giant cigarette in an equally giant eggshell, is a surreal experience even by space-age standards. To top it off, this antique eye-in-the-sky is housed in an ornate Henry Ives Cobb building decorated with astrological figures and surrounded by beautiful grounds. A donation is suggested; the tours last about 35 minutes.
With its long history as a resort area, Lake Geneva and the surrounding communities offer a multitude of shopping, eating, and lodging options, as well as the water sports that were the original attraction. When you get off the mail boat, pause for a look at the Riviera pier building, an Italian Renaissance structure built during the Depression and recently renovated. The upper-level ballroom was a big-band venue in the 30s. The city beach is adjacent to the pier, but there’s a $4 per person charge to use it (less for kids and seniors). The glass- walled building in the park behind the beach is the Lake Geneva Public Library (918 Main St., 414-248- 8311), designed by James Dresser, a student of Frank Lloyd Wright. If you’re up for a real hike, pick up the shoreline footpath here and it will take you around the 26-mile perimeter of the lake. Near the Riviera pier is the well- stocked chamber-of-commerce information center (201 Wrigley Drive, 800-345-1020); pick up a free copy of the Resorter newspaper.
Locals frequent the auto races at Lake Geneva Raceway (on North Bloomfield Road, 414-248-8566), Saturday nights through September. There’s summer stock at the Belfry Theater (Highways 50 and 67, Williams Bay, 414-245-0123), where Paul Newman and Harrison Ford started out, June through Labor Day only.
