For the first 22 years of his life, Pulitzer and Nobel Prize-winning Ernest Hemingway spent his summers exploring the woods and waters of Walloon Lake, Horton By, Petoskey and the neighboring communities of Northern Michigan. It was here he discovered his love of fishing, hunting and writing. It was here where many of the scenes and characters for his future works would be shaped—most notably, those of Nick Adams.
Literary and history buffs are quick to reference Chicago, Paris, Spain, Cuba, Key West and Ketchum as locales where Hemingway made an impact. Yet, it was Northern Michigan which held what some consider the most treasured place in the author’s heart. Except for a single night in 1947, when he was passing through Michigan on his way west, Hemingway never saw this region again after his September 1921 marriage in Horton Bay to Hadley Richardson.“
Hemingway had a very special place in his heart for Northern Michigan. The memories and images in his mind found their way into his works throughout his life, even when the stories were set in other locales around the world,” says Chris Struble, president of The Michigan Hemingway Society. “He remarked to his sister, Ursula, in a letter from 1943 that his time here was the clearest part of his life. But life changed him and he was afraid that if he came back, it wouldn’t be the place he remembered and he couldn’t risk losing what he had known and loved.”
Several events are planned in Petoskey this summer and fall to pay tribute to Hemingway and the impact he made on this region of the state.
