Bay Theatre screens new Leelanau County Poor Farm documentary

From staff reports

The Bay Theatre in Suttons Bay will show Saving the Barn, a locally produced short film on the history, preservation, and future of the Leelanau County Poor Farm/County Infirmary. The screening is free and open to the public on Sunday, August 4 at 1 pm.

The documentary is a multi-year project of the Leelanau County Historic Preservation Society (LCHPS) and was broadcast by WCMU Public Television in March. Following the 26-minute film, Norm Wheeler musician/storyteller and (narrator of the documentary) will moderate a panel discussion with the following people:

• Kim Kelderhouse: executive director at the Leelanau Historical Society and Museum in Leland.
• Barbara Siepker: historian, founding LCHPS board member, and author of Historic Cottages of Glen Lake.
• Susan Stein-Roggenbuck: Associate Professor James Madison College, Michigan State University, and author of Negotiating Relief: The Development of Social Welfare in Depression-Era Michigan, 1930-1940.
• Joe VanderMeulen, PhD: documentary filmmaker and writer is an independent consultant and writer working with people and organizations dedicated to increasing community sustainability and resilience through civic engagement and the preservation of cultural and natural resources.

“This film helps bring to life a little-known part of Leelanau County’s history—a history shared by nearly every other county in Michigan,” said VanderMeulen. “The film combines interviews with expert historians and the childhood memories of the elders with images and artifacts from the last century. Beginning in 1901 and for many decades thereafter, the county Poor Farm provided compassionate care and rehabilitation to people in need from throughout the County.”

LCHPS founding president and barn preservation, Steve Stier reports that the unusual architecture of this 100-year-old barn makes it a historically significant icon from the time all farming was done by hand. LCHPS is near the end of its rehabilitation.

Project leaders for LCHPS, Barbara Siepker and Tina Mehren, secured $20,000 in funding, including a grant from Rotary Charities of Traverse City and a matching grant from the Michigan Humanities Council.

“We feel so fortunate to have had Joe’s expertise on capturing in detailed cinematic views this significant county barn,” said Mehren. “His representation of farming activities transports the viewer to appreciate the stories behind this familiar and renowned building.”

LCHPS hopes: this educational documentary will help connect viewers to the humane public care of the vulnerable in society and the farming practices of 100 years ago; it will remain an ongoing contribution to local history and help facilitate discussions. In particular, to establish a plan for the future use of the site under the County Park Commission; in keeping with our mission, potential uses would be educational, designed to benefit residents, and in keeping with the park-like setting of the Myles Kimmerly Recreation Area.

The Leelanau County Historic Preservation Society (LCHPS) is a nonprofit organization whose purpose is to facilitate the preservation and rehabilitation of historic structures in Leelanau. The structure’s historical and cultural significance, civic identity, and sustainability are considered in these undertakings.