Biking through history with Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear
By F. Josephine Arrowood
Sun contributor
“Let’s go ride a bike …” goes the old song. Biking’s booming popularity, along with record-setting National Parks visitation over the past several years, is creating new ways to love our natural and historic treasures. Adding to these trends is a need to be outside while social distancing during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. And with the 22-mile long, motorless Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail traversing Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Susan Pocklington of Empire came up with a great idea.
“People want to bike in the park,” said Pocklington, executive director of Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear (PHSB). “They ride past an old house or barn, and wonder about it. Why not learn about the history you’re riding through?”
Now, the past and the present come together with a selection of “Historic Bike Tours” offered by PHSB for the first time. The nonprofit’s dual mission is to preserve the structures within the park and share the stories of its people and cultures.
“We developed the idea last spring and we’re starting to roll with it now, excuse the pun,” said Pocklington. “People are on vacation; they want to get out and explore, not [necessarily] read a book. Our tours strike a balance between stopping to poke around, and a nice rhythm to just riding and learning on the go.”
PHSB offers four different tours, which run each morning from 9:30 a.m. to noon, excluding Mondays and Wednesdays. In the Port Oneida Historic District, choose from Biking Historic Sleeping Bear or the Farm to Farm Bike Tour. Biking Off the Beaten Path: Bike and Hike is a four-hour tour with bring-your-own sack lunch. The fourth option is Biking Through Time: Glen Arbor to Glen Haven.
No need for cleats, spandex, or the dreaded chamois (padded shorts) of the serious biker.
All rides consist of easy to moderate terrain on the paved Heritage Trail, with short stints on rustic back roads. Tour lengths vary, from 4.5 miles to 9 miles, and all are family friendly (see the PHSB website for more details).
I registered for the Biking through Time: Glen Arbor to Glen Haven, an 8-mile trek. I drove to Glen Arbor on a cool, overcast morning—perfect biking weather.
Since I don’t own a bicycle, my first stop was at the Cyclery, a full-service rental and repair shop in the heart of the village. The Cyclery is partnering with PHSB to offer discounted rates for tour rentals, including children’s bikes and kiddie trailers. At 9 a.m., the parking lot had ample space, and the helpful staff set me up within a short time. (Participants with their own bikes can skip this step and head right over to the starting point of their tour.)
I chose a “comfort” bike, which offers an upright posture for taking in the scenery. I hadn’t ridden in 30 years, so I was pleasantly surprised by the sturdy tires, easy tensioner dials, and wrenchless seat adjuster. The handlebar accommodated my lunch tote where I kept my car keys and sunscreen, and the bike had a water bottle holder. Helmets are included with the $30 rental fee—I even managed to put mine on correctly after surreptitiously observing other riders.
Just a few blocks away, I met my PHSB volunteer docents at the Heritage Trail near the Christian Science church on S. Forest Haven Drive. John and Sandy Zubik are year-round Glen Arbor residents, local history enthusiasts, and experienced bikers who conduct the Biking Through Time expedition twice weekly. Fittingly, the couple met on a bike tour 27 years ago, and have been riding in tandem ever since.
The Zubiks set a comfortable pace—with John leading and Sandy safeguarding the rear—as we began the first leg of our journey westward through a cedar swale and wooded dune complex. John recounted the story of the “storm of the century” that took place on Aug. 2, 2015, and explained how it dramatically altered Glen Arbor’s landscape. We encountered few other bikers or walkers along our path, but noted an abundance of ripe blackberries, tree saplings reaching into the misty sky, and an occasional deer regarding us curiously.
We left the Heritage Trail at M-109 to amble up Stocking Drive, while Sandy shared the history behind the beautiful stone pillars memorializing “the King of Glen Haven’s” final vision. At Alligator Hill Trail, the docents revealed the long-ago purpose of mysterious concrete structures set into the hill, and the reason for the prevalence of the cypress and red pines in the landscape.
We continued on to the glorious panorama of 19th century entrepreneur D. H. Day’s farmstead, known as “Oswegatchie,” with its iconic white dairy barn, and heard details of Day’s incredible life and indomitable spirit. As we rode, Sandy reminded us to use all our senses to engage our surroundings: birdsong plain and fine, pine scent, the wind caressing our cheeks, and the homespun beauty of the preserved rural landscape of a bygone era.
Passing through the NPS group campground north of the Dune Climb, we reentered the Heritage Trail. John and Sandy shared more natural history of glacial moraines and dune formation, as we rode on the former roadbed of the historic narrow-gauge railroad that carried lumber from Day’s sawmill on Glen Lake down to the Glen Haven dock.
In the charming former logging village, we heard about entrepreneurial efforts as one era ended and another began for the region. We saw the general store where Day’s wife Eva held court, the history of C.C. McCarty’s “Sleeping Bearsville Inn,” the red-painted canning factory, the treacheries of the Manitou Passage, and more.
After a quick stop in the modern-day comfort facilities (housed within a historic-looking structure resembling a boathouse), we were off to the D.H. Day Campground, established on land donated by Michigan’s first State Parks commissioner, and the site of an impressively restored log cabin.
We returned to the Heritage Trail and cedar forest for the final leg of our cycling tour, delighted by the sight of a great heron lifting up through the shadows, and a family of deer crossing our trail, just as we parted ways at the end of our time together.
“We like to meet people where they’re at,” said Pocklington. “People will be surprised at what they learn while on a bike tour—and how fun it might be to learn something.”
About PHSB: Since 1998, non-profit PHSB has worked to preserve the historic structures—some older than the Civil War era— in the unique natural landscape within Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. PHSB also shares the stories of bygone pioneers who shaped our cultural landscape—including loggers, farmers, Native Americans, immigrants, and entrepreneurs—in microcosm, the rich, complex history of 19th and early 20th century America. PHSB invites you to join the many volunteers and donors to keep the vision of history alive at www.phsb.org.
