A Dogcart, a Flag, and the Slippery Jims

By Jacqueline Tompkins-Weede
Sun contributor
The Old Settlers Picnic
My cousin Jack Sundling sent me a faded picture of two little girls in a dog cart — a picture of his mother Edna and her younger sister Nan. I took the faded picture to Blue Photo on Eight Street in Traverse City.
“Yes,” the clerk said, “if the picture is in focus, Lisa can restore it digitally on her computer.”
A week later, I watched Lisa’s computer keystrokes bring my Aunt Edna and Aunt Nan back to life.

“That’s interesting,” Lisa commented, looking at the screen, “the little one you call Nan is holding an American flag. They must be in a parade.”
The picture had been taken when the Anderson family lived in Burdickville so I called Laura Quackenbush, the curator at the Leelanau Historical Museum for information. She referred me to Dorothy E. Lanham who wrote a book about the Burdickville area. I bought the book and this is what I learned.
The Old Settlers Picnic Grounds
Every year since the early 1800’s, on the third day of August, the people in Leelanau County put down their work, no matter what, and go to the Old Settlers Picnic Grounds to have a day of “frolic.” To the old settlers in Leelanau County, “frolic” was defined as music, games and flirtations — as well as food, drink and conversation.
The Old Settlers Picnic Grounds is a beautifully wooded six-acre tract of land with 200 feet of frontage on [Big] Glen Lake. The property is unfenced with two entrances (one on either side) and one exit in the middle. A small chapel is located on the east side of the road.
The early settlers started having picnics there in the first part of the 1800’s and formed an association to buy the land and make improvements on it. Through donations and memberships, they raised the $450 needed to buy the Property.
So — every summer on August 3, there was a big public picnic. Every family brought its own food in big wash baskets, traveling by horse and buggy or wagon to the Old Settlers’ Picnic Grounds.
Mothers and daughters wore pretty light dresses and broad brimmed hats or poke bonnets, and fathers wore suits with starched collars and bowler hats. Sons, in trousers and white shirts, rolled up their sleeves to that they could play baseball and pitch horseshoes.
In later years, the event was changed into a potluck picnic although there were always several tents called “Eating Houses” where food, beer and cold drinks could be purchased. In spite of these changes, many families still brought their own favorite food.
During World War II, the date of the picnic was changed to the first Sunday in August, and it was not unusual for a thousand people to attend the all-day affair. The Old Settlers Picnic still attracts hundreds of people each summer and everybody, including locals and out-of-towners, agree it is the best picnic in the whole state of Michigan and that includes the Upper Peninsula.
By the time my ancestors, the A.P. Anderson family, moved to Burdickville, the Picnic Grounds had many improvements including a gazebo, benches, several fire pits, and a couple of outhouses on the east side of the road.
The two little girls in the dogcart picture, Edna and Nan Anderson, were going to the Old Settlers Picnic with their parents, brothers and sisters. This is their story.
A Dogcart, a Flag, and the Slippery Jims
Jennie Anderson wipes the cellar dust off from two jars — one of stewed peaches and the other containing her cucumber pickles — the ones her son Seigurd calls Slippery Jims. She polishes the jars until they shine. She is a good homemaker. She likes her food, her house and her family to look good. She works very hard to see to it that they do. She is 38 years old and has six children.
Her big wicker clothes basket is lined with a red checkered cloth that matches the one she will put on the grass — to eat on. She fills the basket with crisp fried chicken, cold roast beef with horseradish sauce, a crock of Bruna Bonor (Swedish Baked Beans), freshly baked Limpa Bread, stewed peaches, Slippery Jims, lemonade, and two apple pies, Appelkaka, too.
She knows there will be huge pots of coffee already brewing over the open fire pits at the picnic grounds, and her husband and Seigurd will start cranking the ice cream maker as soon as they get there. The Potet Salat (Potato Salad) is still in the icebox in a chilled bowl packed in a crock of cracked ice. Jennie will pack the Potet Salat at the very last minute, taking more ice to keep it cold.
Her two little girls are waiting patiently for their mother to tell them they can go outside. They look so pretty in the dresses she made for them. Their dark hair has been brushed until it glistens, and then arranged in fat corkscrews. She uses a curling iron to make their curls, heating it on the cook stove. Edna and Nan are good girls. They don’t even cry when she is distracted and lets the hot iron touch their soft apple cheeks. One last touch, Jennie thinks to herself. She ties red, white and blue ribbons in their hair. Oh, they look so pretty.
She calls to her oldest daughters, Cigne and Sadie. Cigne is 18 and growing up fast. She wants to go to nurses’ training in Chicago. Sadie is only 13 but boys are starting to notice her too. Jennie will have to keep her eye on both of them, and on Seigurd who likes to talk to the girls.
“Ready, Ma? Pa wants to know.”
“Yes, Seigurd, tell him I’m ready,” she said.
The Andersen Family gets to the Old Settlers Picnic Grounds at a quarter to 11 — early enough to get a spot fairly close to the gazebo.
Good, she thinks to herself. We’ll be able to see everything. Jennie spreads the checkered cloth on the ground and starts to unpack her basket. Her family is hungry. She is hungry too.
A band, made up of local musicians, plays throughout the day. They stop only when Rose Meyers starts to play her accordion. The musicians like Rose and pay their respect to her in this way. It is a picnic tradition — Rose Meyers walks around the entire picnic grounds with her accordion and plays like a troubadour, visiting each family like a favored aunt.
Jennie likes Rose’s informal promenade, and she colors with pleasure when the musician sits down beside her. Rose plays a special little song for Jennie and her children, and then she moves on.
Finally, Nan Helm comes to where Jennie is sitting and tells the young mother that someday she will write a book about Burdickville. Jennie believes her. She has never known anyone as smart as Nan Helm nor as talented as Rose Meyers. Only her grandfather. The two women remind Jennie of those golden days in Sweden when her grandfather played his violin and read stories to her from his large collection of books — when students came to his house to take violin lessons. Jennie is glad that she has named her little Nannie after the gifted writing lady of Burdickville. Perhaps she would name her next daughter after the musician — oh, but what if it was a boy?
Edna and Nan get many compliments as they walk around the picnic grounds. Nan waves her flag from the dogcart and Edna leads the patient Jumbo by his collar. He is a good dog. People stop by to talk to Jennie while Peter and Sig play horseshoes with the other men. The day is perfect. The musicians play dance tunes and many couples dance on the grassy space in front of the Gazebo. Finally, Peter looks at his pocket watch. It is four o’clock, and people are starting to drift out of the picnic ground.
Peter says, “It’s time to go home. What will those cows be thinking?”
“Yes, Peter,” Jennie answers. “I’m ready.”
It was a day to remember.
Rose Meyers gave accordion lessons to many people throughout her life, and Nan Meyers wrote two books, Village Days and Village Wags (of Burdickville) and Footprints Where Once They Walked. She also wrote a song called “Glen Lake” that is printed in Dorothy E. Lanham’s book. The Old Settles Picnic Grounds has been declared a Michigan Historic Site with the formal dedication of the historic market on October 11, 2003.