Everyone's Country Estate - A History Of Minnesota's State Parks

by Roy W. Meyer

In 1891 Minnesota established its first state park at Lake Itasca, the headwaters of the Mississippi River. In the century that followed, Minnesotans and tourists from other states have enjoyed hiking, picnicking, fishing, camping, canoeing, and skiing at Itasca and Minnesotan's 64 other state parks. This helpful guide to the past in the parks will be welcomed by people who regularly visit a favorite Minnesota park, people who have set out to visit every park, and people who are newly discovering the parks' wonders.

Genres: Environment

376 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1991

Reviews

[Jessica DeWitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

As one of the few monographs that specifically focuses on the history of state parks, Meyer's Everyones Country Estate is a commendable overview of the history of Minnesota's state park system. The main strength of Meyer's work is the way in which he fleshes out the state's reasoning behind adding each park to the system. He begins to get into the reaction of locals, but stops short of in-depth analysis, focusing mostly on legislation and park management, etc. I did find the organization of the chapters--brief intro followed by short sections on specific parks--to become a bit tedious...good for bringing in a lot of facts/details, but not particularly good for boosting the entertainment value of the narrative. He also doesn't get into the secondary literature until the last couple pages of the conclusion. I would have liked to see him tackle the historiography more, helping to situate the Minnesota example within the literature.