Diana of the Dunes

For nearly a decade, Alice Mabel Gray lived amidst the sand, escaping from the never-ceasing pace of Chicago during the Second Industrial Revolution and leaving behind a life of higher education. Her days were spent much like those of the modern park visitor, swimming in the lake, pacing long stretches of beautiful shoreline, and trekking through quiet woodlands. Like many others, she was in search of solitude. But as Alice came to find companionship in the dunes, her story would baffle the nation and lead to legends based on both truth and rumor. I'm Jason Epperson, and this week on America's National Parks, Indiana Dunes National Park and Diana of the Dunes.

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com to find more, including helpful tips for first-time renters, travel inspiration, and more on the RV Share blog. Use promo code PARKS30 for $30 off a $500 or more booking at RVShare.com. The summer of 1916 brought an oppressive heatwave to the southern shores of Lake Michigan. Highs soared into the hundreds, and the unrelenting sun found no resistance in the cloudless sky for nearly a month. Ice shortages caused problems for hospitals, death rates soared, and, amidst it all, political tensions ran high on the eve of America's involvement in the First World War.

Desperate to find relief, locals and tourists alike flocked to the sandy beaches of northern Indiana, where they would find a young woman living quietly in the sand. Born in 1881 to Sally and Ambrose Gray, Alice was the fifth of six children. After her father suffered major burns from a lamp lighting accident, leaving him bedridden, her mother worked to provide for her family by raising poultry and vegetables, meaning Alice, only age 14 at the time, maintained the remainder of the household and kept a watchful eye on her younger brother, Chester. Despite all this, Alice graduated at the top of her class in high school and continued her education at the University of Chicago in the fall of 1897.. There she mastered two languages, French and German, studied astronomy and theology, and excelled specifically in mathematics, graduating with the highest honors.

After earning her degree, she left Chicago for Washington, D.

C. Aged 22,, she worked for the U.S. Naval Observatory as a so-called computer, a term often used in her time to describe women performing tedious calculations. Few records of her time spent in Washington, D.C. exist, aside from a file noting her short haircut and her preference to work in pants.

From 1906 to 1908, Alice moved abroad, to Germany, where she studied higher mathematics at the University of Göttingen as a guest listener, before returning home to Chicago and enrolling once again at the university. After shifting her studies from mathematics to philosophy, she found herself longing to leave the bustle of the city once more and ended her formal education to escape to the nearby Indiana Dunes in 1915.. There, along the southern shores of Lake Michigan, Alice sought solitude. She came equipped for her earliest days in the dunes only with a blanket and two pistols, requiring her to take up residence in borrowed shelters, most notably a teepee called Sassafras Lodge, owned by a local couple, and an abandoned shack on the beach that she named Driftwood. The name, according to Alice's diary, came from the thought that, like everything she owned, she too was like Driftwood, making its way in from the lake.

By the following year, as the water filled with fishermen and swimmers, Alice quickly attracted the attention of passers-by. Newspaper reporters, eager to sell papers, flocked to her shack, desperate for an interview. Some romanticized her life, suggesting that she took up residence in the dunes to escape a torrid love affair in Chicago. Many made note of her tendency to swim naked in the lake, earning her nicknames like Nymph and Mermaid, but it was the comparison of one unknown reporter that would earn her the moniker most common. Taking note of her exceptional skills in duck hunting, they likened her to Diana, the Roman goddess of the hunt, and deemed her not Alice, but rather Diana of the Dunes.

While perhaps adverse to the popularity that she quickly found amongst a restless nation, Alice was intent on using her voice to help protect the shoreline she now came to call home. Earlier efforts to protect the Dunes region date as far back as 1908, with the establishment of the Prairie Club, a group of well-known local conservationists. Stephen Mather, the first director of the National Park Service, even visited the proposed park in the fall of 1916, holding hearings in nearby Chicago to gauge interest in a Midwest park. Intent on furthering their cause, the Prairie Club invited Alice herself to speak on her experience living in the Dunes in 1917, but all efforts to establish a park were quickly overshadowed by President Wilson's declaration to enter the First World War. As the public attention shifted focus to the events in Europe, Alice retreated to her beloved Dunes.

Although media coverage of her existence continued, in 1918 she became the subject of controversy when she took in a Michigan city man named Paul Eisenblatter, who would eventually drop his family's last name in favor of Wilson. Referred to as Alice's caveman, his appearance in the Dunes was noted by the disappearance of local goods, including eggs, blankets, and guns. Footprints left in the sand led directly to Alice's cabin, and Paul was arrested and sentenced to six months of work on a penal farm. Over the course of a hard winter, Alice and Paul kept in touch via letter, and, following his release the next year, they traveled to Knoxville, Tennessee, where they were said to have married. No record of their marriage has ever been found, but Paul's unwavering dedication to Alice was obvious.

They moved westward down the shoreline to today's West Beach, where they built a haphazard shack that became referred to as Wren's Nest. Slowly, the couple disappeared into the background, vanishing for weeks or months at a time, although various reports from locals of stolen goods continued periodically. And then, in the summer of 1922, a gruesome death was discovered in the rolling sand hills. The charred remains of an unidentifiable figure were found by a passing college student, and all eyes immediately fell on Alice and Paul. Despite the records kept in Alice's diary, placing them miles from the location of the murder, claims of their involvement and whereabouts concerning the mysterious death ran rampant through the newspapers.

Alice was dismayed, and, to make matters worse, a pair of fishermen confronted Alice and Paul soon after, insisting that they stole their nets. The couple paid a visit to the local deputy to dispute the case, but the visit quickly turned violent. Paul was shot in the foot, and Alice was gravely injured when the deputy rammed the butt of his gun into her head. The deputy then forced the couple to march two miles down the beach before medical assistance was finally provided to Alice, who had a three-inch skull fracture that left her hovering between life and death. Alice would survive the ordeal, although when she returned with Paul to the Wren's Nest, they found their home ransacked by looters.

Most of their belongings had disappeared in their absence, but none as important to Alice as her beloved manuscripts, and as a result, little of her writing survives today. Throughout 1923 and 1924, Alice remained close to her shack, despite rumors that she and Paul had moved elsewhere. Her days were spent writing and preparing libel suits against both the deputy that had caused her injury and two newspapers for writing false and malicious defamatory statements. She wouldn't have a chance to testify in either case. In February of 1925, Alice lay ill on a pallet in her shack.

Reports indicate that she refused medical treatment. Paul Wilson remained at her side until he was forced to get help, locating a local doctor, but by February 9th, Alice Mabel Gray would be pronounced dead. Her desires, according to Paul, indicated that she wished to be cremated and for her ashes to be scattered on nearby Mount Tom, and he had taken steps to follow her request. when Alice's family stepped in. Refusing cremation, the family instead opted for Alice to be buried in nearby Gary's Oak Hill Cemetery.

Distraught by his wife's passing, Paul stood by Alice's casket at her funeral, waving a gun in the air and yelling, anyone who takes her body will be sorry. As a result, he was taken away by authorities until after her burial. He would eventually go on to live in California, bouncing in and out of prison several times before being found dead on the floor of a lonely desert cabin in 1941.. The dunes of northern Indiana were first protected as a state park in 1926, but efforts for national protection continued. In 1966, the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore was designated by the National Park Service and protected areas increased from 8,330 acres to over 15,000 in the years that followed.

Redesignated as our nation's 61st national park in 2019, the park now coexists with Indiana Dunes State Park and protects well over 17,000 total acres of rolling dunes, seashores, and historic woodlands. Stretching from Michigan City to Gary, the park boundaries bracket in those of the state park and neighboring cities. Known for its sandy dunes, it also features a wealth of ecological and historic wonders that change with the seasons. In the spring, the return of the incredibly diverse bird population brings birdwatchers from near and far, and the park, along with the Indiana Audubon Society, hosts an annual birding festival each May. Fifteen miles of beaches still attract locals and tourists alike and can get busy during the summer months, just as they did in Alice's time.

Over 50 miles of trails lead through the sand dunes, woodlands, wetlands, and a wealth of plant diversity. Horseback riding, fishing, geocaching, and interpretive programs also find popularity during the hottest months of the year. Those visiting in the fall may have the opportunity to step inside one of the historic Century of Progress homes, relocated to the Michigan shoreline after their tenure at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. The homes, built during the Great Depression, highlighted futuristic changes to residential living. Tours are only offered in the last weekend of September, and tickets, which go on sale in early August, usually sell out within an hour.

Private individuals lease the homes, but the exteriors can be viewed any day of the year. In the winter, temperatures drop below freezing, leading to the risk of shelf ice along the lake as winter winds push ice from Lake Michigan up onto the beach, creating a dynamic Arctic landscape. The park is open year-round, except for major holidays, although the visitor center has reduced hours during the winter season. Traces of Alice Mabel Gray can still be found within the park boundaries, although most physical evidence of her presence has long since vanished. The park continues to celebrate the legacy of this mystifying woman and her impact on the Dunes region, with a challenge, called the Diana of the Dunes Dare, that takes visitors along some of the same land she once traversed.

Starting from the West Beach parking lot, hikers can climb a swell named Diana's Dune, which leads past views of the cities she left behind and the landscapes she found refuge in. Those who accept the challenge are invited to share their pledge of preservation on social media, and a completion sticker can be picked up at either the Indiana Dunes Visitor Center in Porter or the Paul H. Douglas Center in Gary.

This episode of America's National Parks was hosted by me, Jason Epperson, and written by Lizzie Tesh. If you enjoyed the show, please consider leaving us a rating and review. If you're new here, make sure to subscribe to the podcast to get new episodes delivered to your feed. If you're looking for photos and tips about visiting national parks, check out our America's National Parks Facebook group, and if you're interested in RV travel, we hope you'll also check out our RV Miles podcast and YouTube channel. Today's show was sponsored by RV Share.

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