This area is one of the few historic vacation communities in the U.S. that caters specifically to upper-class African Americans. Established in 1912, with over 2,700 acres of wilderness, Idlewild was known as the “Black Eden” and served as an escape from city and work life in western Michigan. For upper-class African Americans during the Green Book era, Idlewild represented the fulfillment of the American dream that they had been and were being denied in the larger society.