Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear offers tours, programs, projects
From staff reports
Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear (PHSB), a partner organization of the National Park, has many opportunities coming up for visitors and residents to learn about, and help preserve, the heritage of the Sleeping Bear Dunes area this summer.
Horse and wagon tours through the Port Oneida Rural Historic District run every Tuesday and Thursday of each week through Labor Day, and some dates in September and October as long as there is interest. “We’re excited about this new way to experience the history and landscape of this beautiful area,” says PHSB director Susan Pocklington. Reservations are required. Cost is $18 adults and $11 children ages 4-12. Visit Phsb.org for a weekly schedule.
ROOTStories, a program highlighting descendants of the Park’s historic properties, begins Friday, July 18 from 10 a.m.-noon, with Norbert Bufka of the Bufka Farm in Good Harbor. The program meets at the Charles and Hattie Olsen Farm and includes a talk on the family history, and a tour of the Bufka farm. Cost is $5 per family. Bufka was born and raised in Good Harbor and currently lives in Midland. He taught American history for years and has authored three books about Good Harbor: From Bohemia to Good Harbor, News from the Neighborhood and Good Harbor Michigan. All will be available at the program.
The popular “Inside the Farms and Barns of Port Oneida” tour will be led by Former Park ranger Bill Herd on Tuesday, July 22 from 10 a.m.-noon. Participants will visit four farms and learn about the buildings and how their design and function supported the farm, as well as the general history of the Port Oneida Community. Meet at the Charles and Hattie Olsen Farm fifteen minutes before the tour starts. Cost is $5 per family.
Interlochen Arts Academy creative writer and playwright Anne-Marie Oomen will inspire and instruct novice and experienced writers in two programs. “Path to Page” on Saturday, July 26 from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. incorporates a hike through the Port Oneida area learning the history as subject matter for creative muse. Cost is $70 including lunch. And new this year, “Writing the Landscape” on Monday, July 28 from 10 a.m.-noon. This workshop invites participants to explore their relationship with the land, culture, and history of the region by writing about it in poems, stories, vignettes. Cost is $45. Registration for both programs closes Thursday, July 24.
PHSB will be conducting several preservation projects this summer. The next volunteer work project will take place at the Carsten Burfiend farm in Port Oneida. Volunteers will restore the front porch and privy on Saturday, July 19. A window restoration workshop led by Steve Stier will repair the Burfiend windows on two weekends, Friday and Saturday, July 18-19, and July 25-26 with a limit of eight people per day. Both projects start at 9 a.m.
For details and registration information on all of these programs contact 231-334-6103 or visit Phsb.org.
