A chain of quiet canals and little lakes threads the island's green heart — the surviving piece of Olmsted's plan, and once Detroit's floating lovers' lane, where couples courted in mahogany canoes fitted with Victrolas. Rent a kayak at Flynn Pavilion and paddle it still.
The water opening up off the island side is the first of Belle Isle's quiet canals, with little Lake Tacoma spreading just beyond it. These channels thread the whole middle of the island, linking across to Lake Okonoka and the Blue Heron Lagoon at the far end. They're one of the few traces left of Frederick Law Olmsted's eighteen eighty-three plan — the man who'd go on to lay out New York's Central Park imagined a system of gently curving waterways for Belle Isle, for drainage and for paddling both, and the canals are the surviving heart of what he drew. And they hold a love story. A century ago, before most folks owned a car, this was the most romantic spot in all of Detroit. You'd rent a varnished mahogany canoe from the livery, and the fancy ones came kitted out with a wind-up Victrola for music, a pile of pillows, a backrest, even a little carbide spotlight on the bow for after dark. A floating lovers' lane, chaperones be hanged. On a warm summer evening these canals ran thick with couples, thousands of them, drifting under the arched bridges. Then the automobile came along, courting moved to the back seat, and the canoe livery quietly faded — the same machine age that would one day give this island its racetrack glamour put an end to its sweetest tradition. The good news: you can still do it. Flynn Pavilion, right here on Lake Tacoma, rents kayaks all summer, and the water runs cleaner now that the lakes were reconnected to the river. Paddle the old courting route yourself, if the day's right for it.
