Memorial Day Weekend marks the beginning of summer, and in Michigan, what better way to celebrate than with a typical summer activity: boating.

Florence and Warren are pictured in a rowboat at what was known as the Booth family’s summer retreat, two years before the building of Cranbrook House. In 1906, Henry Wood Booth recalled, “The millpond was enlarged and made into a lake by deepening and extending to the old millrace at the north-west end.” The lake was called Glastonbury Lake, after a pond near the village of Cranbrook, Kent, England (Henry Wood Booth’s birthplace). It has since been renamed Kingswood Lake.

So, as summer begins, remember to be safe while boating. Although Florence (4) and Warren (12) may be missing their life jackets 115 years ago, a new Federal Law now requires children under 13 years of age to wear one when a vessel is underway.

– Leslie S. Mio, Associate Registrar, Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research