Excelsior: An Historical Novel of Lake Minnetonka

Excelsior is a fabulous story of love and mischief as a young newspaper editor falls in love with a vacationer from the south. Set in the small town of Excelsior in 1987, on the shores of Lake Minnetonka, the Mecca of the world for vacationers at the time. Claimed one person, "it's a good thing we're open for business only four months of the year because the town workers couldn't take all the activity year around". From the grandiose hotels that dotted the lake to the ferryboats that chartered to and fro, Bob Williams does a good job using word pictures to transport you back in time to an era where everything seems enchanting. Beauty, heartbreak, and a kind ending belies the young editor as he pursues his dream woman. This Fourth of July weekend will be one to be remembered

This book is a semi~fictional historical novel depicting the events of a fourth of July weekend in Excelsior, Minnesota on Lake Minnetonka during the last century this lake was and still is a popular resort area it had during its heyday a fleet of 99 excursion steamers including the "Belle of Minnetonka" a 310 foot sidewheel steamer formerly in service on the St.Paul~St.louis~Louisville route this steamer was taken apart and shipped in sections to Wayzata (pronounced Y~zeta) on the lake to be re-assembled and put into service the "belle" is a focal point of the story concerning the abortive romance of a Gambler and a local woman and the activities of an assortment of local people and the events happening to them over the fourth of July weekend.