The Shore at Lake Forest

The shoreline of Lake Michigan just north of Chicago.

This image of the shoreline of Lake Michigan at Lake Forest may give some indication of where the northern Chicago suburb received its name. A heavily forested thicket is shown abutting the lakefront, with several large pieces of driftwood in the foreground. The verso includes a similar image (albeit smaller), with high rocks overlooking the water.

The view was drawn by Alfred Waud, an artist best known today for his illustrations made for Harper’s Weekly during the American Civil War. One of Waud’s descendants, Cornelius, would later become the mayor of Lake Forest, Illinois.

The print was included in Picturesque America, a popular two-volume publication issued in New York by D. Appleton & Company in 1872. The work’s numerous essays and hundreds of engravings had a profound impact on American cultural identity and conservation practices in the late 19th century.