Book About Cabins on Madeline Island - A Great Birthday Gift

I got a great book from my parents for my Birthday.  It's been my night time reading material since I got it on Tuesday.  It's called Madeline Island Sumer Houses: An Intimate Journey by Linda Mack (with photographs by Kendra Mack.

My family has made it a tradition to visit Madeline Island (one of the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior) every August.  My husband been going there since he was a teenager.  One of his parents grew up on the island and kept a summer place there when they married and moved to the city.

To get to Madeline Island, you need to take a ferry from Bayfield, WI.  You drive right on to the ferry and in about a half an hour, you drive off on to the island.  (I love taking the ferry on calm days.  I'm terrified if it's windy.  I get a little nervous when I'm sitting in my car with the windshield wipers going because the waves are so big they're splashing on to my car!)

This book, highlights some of the unique cabins on Madeline Island.  It's fun being able to see the inside of some of the cabins we've driven by all these years.  One of them is a few cabins away from our friends' family cabin.  I enjoyed reading the story about why they built this cabin in the style that they did.

I'm also finding ideas in this book for our future cabin.  Like unique support beams,

a great hanging place to sit,

and a cozy reading/napping nook.

I'm also finding ideas for fireplaces, paint colors, ceiling textures, fun furniture just to name a few.  My cabin may have to be three stories high and 1000 square feet on each floor!

The pictures of the cabins, inside and out, are fabulous.  The photographer really captures the character of the cabins. The stories behind each cabin, written by the photographers mother, are very interesting and well written.  Many of the cabins are passed down in families and it's fascinating to read about the cabin's history.  

I love, love, love this book!

"I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library."  -Jorge Luis Borges