Grace Dickinson follows in her family’s footsteps near Sleeping Bear Dunes

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Dickinson Gallery of Empire, a working studio/gallery, is, simply put, magnificent. The gallery is owned by Grace Dickinson Johnson, who has taken over the helm from her father. Once you step inside, the very essence of Sleeping Bear Country jumps right out at you. Scores of breathtaking photographs are displayed there, proof of Fred and Grace’s years of photographic excellence capturing Leelanau’s beauty for all who venture inside. Dickinson Gallery is situated in a lovely wooded glen right across the road from her great-grandparents’ home, writes Sandy Bradshaw in our August 11 edition of the Glen Arbor Sun.

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Leland Public School embraces North Manitou school project

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Here’s the story of Leland Public School reclaiming and reviving its school on North Manitou Island, which Abby Chatfield wrote in our August 11 edition of the Glen Arbor Sun. The first school on North Manitou was made of logs in 1895 and held 36 students. A new school was built in 1907 with a wood frame and front porch but was shut down in the 1940s as the island’s permanent population dwindled. Decades later, when Leland Public School discovered they owned this one-acre property, considered the home of Leland School District’s first school, all that still existed was the decaying framework of a one-room schoolhouse. Fast forward more than 25 years. Nick Seguin, a first and second grade teacher for Leland since 2009 who graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in Natural Resources, spends his summers working as a guide for Manitou Island Transit. While hiking on North Manitou Island, Seguin came across the old school site, recognizing it by a crumbling foundation. Intrigued, he began to study plat maps and rediscovered the property deed, realizing that the land still belonged to the Leland School District.

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With feminism in its walls, Glen Arbor Bed & Breakfast building nears age 150

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That quaint bed & breakfast in the heart of Glen Arbor, across M-22 from bustling Anderson’s Market, is approaching a major milestone next year—the building’s 150th birthday. The evidence lies in a newspaper clipping from the July 5, 1873, edition of Woodhull & Claflin’s Weekly, which inn owners Patricia and Larry Widmayer found beneath five layers of wallpaper when they renovated the interior.

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Meet Fishtown’s charter fishermen

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The beloved Up North destination we all know as Fishtown has been a commercial fishing spot since the late 1800s. Located in Leland at the mouth of the Leland River, which flows into mighty Lake Michigan, it’s a portal caught back in time—a collection of well-weathered old fishing shanties, fishing tugs and charter boats that are lined up along the Leland River. Here we can watch hundreds of years of continuous history oozing with charm that unfolds, day in, day out. Here, too, we can still see and feel a connection to the long tradition of fishing in the Great Lakes, a tradition far older than even the country we live in. Visitors from all over come to visit and fish here.

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Tall Ship Madeline sails again on West Grand Traverse Bay

It has been well over two years since the Traverse City icon and Good Will Ambassador, the Tall Ship Madeline,gracefully sailed over West Grand Traverse Bay’s waters and beyond. The 55-foot ship, with a sparred length of 92 feet, was built between 1985 and 1990 by more than 165 Maritime Heritage Alliance (MHA) volunteers who gave over 40,000 hours to build the schooner, a replica of an 1840s commercial vessel that once sailed our local waters.

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Goats feast at Port Oneida

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The 20 goats had moved into Dechow Farm in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore’s Port Oneida Rural Historic District just a few hours before, and already YouthWork director Bill Watson was laying in the grass near the goat pen and cuddling a couple kids who approached him. “He was a puddle,” said Amy McIntyre, co-owner of Pontiac-based City Girls Farm, which brought the livestock to Leelanau County on June 11 to graze in the fields and remove invasive species through the summer. This is the first year that Sleeping Bear Dunes officials embraced livestock grazing on Park land for a full season.

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A Spanish Flu relic reappears at Sleeping Bear Inn

In late May, Jeff Kato of Balancing Environment and Rehabilitation (BEAR), the nonprofit rehabbing Glen Haven’s historic Sleeping Bear Inn, found this bottle of Foley’s Cough Syrup—a concoction of 7% alcohol, honey and pine tar made popular during the 1918 flu epidemic—behind the baseboard in one of the guest rooms. The cough syrup has reappeared for the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Leelanau Historical Society hosts virtual program on Bamewawagezhikaquay / Jane Johnston Schoolcraft

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On Wednesday, June 15, at 7 pm, Robert Dale Parker will introduce the life and writings of Bamewawagezhikaquay / Jane Johnston Schoolcraft (1800-1842), the northern Michigan poet and fiction writer who was among the first Native American literary writers. Register for this virtual program hosted by the Leelanau Historical Society.

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Bardenhagen Berries Farm celebrates sesquicentennial and strawberry season

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Bardenhagen Berries Farm celebrates its 150th anniversary as a family farm this year by commemorating its rich history and continuing to diversify for its future. While the farm offers a variety of crops, it is perhaps best known for strawberries.

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On Memorial Day: Gaining Recognition for a Fallen Brother

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Specialist William Gabrielsen who died on March 10, 1970, from injuries sustained during the Vietnam War. Gabrielsen’s name was added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in 2014. By Michael Papa Sun contributor In the early morning hours of August 12, 1968, Specialist William Gabrielsen and Lieutenant James O’Connor prepared for a reconnaissance mission to track enemy […]

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