“Are We There Yet?” U.P. Tourism Exhibit

You can now relive the places, pastimes and kitsch souvenirs of the early days of travel and tourism in the U.P. at the Marquette Regional History Museum.

It’s part of a special exhibit now on display for residents and visitors alike.

The “Are We There Yet” exhibition takes you back to the days when only the most prominent and wealthiest individuals could afford to travel to see how far we’ve come from the era of elitism.

“You learn about  Victorian tourism, one of the first tourists that come to Marquette to go fishing so that’s kind of a fun story.  Then there was the car travel and early on people were coming up here traveling the rough, rough roads and camping out with their trailer in the free tourist park, so there is a lot of fun history,” said Jo DeYoung, Marquette Regional History Center Curator.

The exhibit focuses on the simple life with homemade entertainment like camping, outdoor recreation, and ski jumping.

Not to be overlooked is the plethora of ad campaigns and distinctive clothing worn.

“I think the whole car travel is a lot of fun, a woman is going to fix her car and she has the appropriate attire from Circa 1910 so I think it’s really fun to imagine that time when people could afford to go drive their car from Wisconsin and come on up here and go camping and that was a fun thing,” continued DeYoung.

There will be a “Gallery Talk” for the exhibit with a question and answer session to follow on May 1st at 6:30 p.m. You must to be a member to attend.