Discovery reverts ownership of Glen Arbor Cemetery from National Park back to Township

By Linda Alice Dewey

Sun contributor

Discovery of a 70-year-old glitch in deeds reveals that the National Park does not own the Glen Arbor Township Cemetery; Glen Arbor does. This marks a major turning point in what had been a growing list of massive indignities regarding the site—lost grave markers and lost records, resulting in lost names, then obliteration by a massive storm.  

Last fall, while work was initiated onsite to clear the downed trees, offsite, local historian Andrew White was examining property records. He was surprised to find that, where land transfers and sales of surrounding property had always explicitly excluded the cemetery, suddenly that was not the case. One deed did not, opening the way for the land to be sold later on to the Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore. Since 1977, the cemetery has been under the auspices of the National Park.

This recent discovery, documented and proven by a new title search this spring, has immediately changed all that. The township regains ownership.

Origin of the cemetery

Early in the township’s history, Dr. William H. Walker, a former Civil War surgeon from Wisconsin, owned miles of land in Glen Arbor. In 1880, he sold 1.38 acres, for the price of one dollar, to the Board of Health of the Township of Glen Arbor (which consisted back then of 1-3 township trustees on the board) for the specific purpose of establishing a township cemetery. 

The cemetery was used from then until 1927, when Glen Arbor began using Maple Grove Cemetery on M-109 in Empire Township instead. Even so, once the Glen Arbor cemetery had been created, the Township was mandated to maintain it, and all land transactions surrounding it were supposed to exclude it from any and all sales. 

However, in what may have been a mishap, a deed to large tract of surrounding land in 1950 failed to exclude the graveyard. It appears that the Township was unaware that the cemetery had been transferred because, as late as 1968, Township minutes revealed that funds were set aside to fix up the cemetery so it might be used again.

Leonard Thoreson, now 94, was on the board at that time and he is the one who went in and cleaned up the brush. “I cleared it up,” he said. “But they never did use it. I have no idea what happened.”  

In 1977, after a half century of inactivity, that land was conveyed to the National Lakeshore. By then, the wooden shingles and crosses marking many of the graves had long since decayed and disappeared. Where scores of citizens, immigrants, travelers, and laborers had been buried, rows of long, undulating indentations were now the only indication of bodies and their DNA that lay below.

By 1990, the trail to the cemetery, which may have once been a public road, was now well-maintained by the Park, which kept it and the cemetery accessible and clear of saplings and fallen trees.

A quarter century later came the storm of August 2015, burying the trail and the graveyard under a twisted mass of downed trees, barring the occasional visitor. It was the ultimate indignity, the ultimate injustice, this time dealt by Mother Nature. Years passed; the little cemetery lay dormant.

A watershed moment

I cared deeply about this place. Having experienced a life changing event there, the graveyard felt sacred, and I felt moved to write a book about what happened to me there and the ensuing events. Two years after the storm, I spoke with Lakeshore deputy superintendent Tom Ulrich about its condition. They just hadn’t gotten to it yet, he said, and suggested that a citizen’s group might be able to get the project going faster, but any work would have to be done under the auspices of the Park and according to Park standards.

As I reached out to the community, it became apparent that many others were also distressed about the cemetery. We interfaced with the Park, more people became involved, and the cemetery project began to take on a momentum of its own. Last fall, Parshall Tree Clearing experts volunteered their time to begin the clearing, and an educational research plan I had taken to Glen Lake School also went into action.

Simultaneously last fall, White was researching Dr. Walker and happened to come upon the original deed creating the cemetery. From there, he studied the trail of deeds to the surrounding land and eventually uncovered the 1950 deed, which neglected to exclude the cemetery in the land transfer. From then on, the deeds went astray.

Once officials at the Park and Township were notified of the finding, it was obvious to all that a new (and complete) title search was called for. That was completed this spring and White submitted the results—which were favorable to Glen Arbor Township—to both entities. Ulrich sent the results to National Park Service (NPS) headquarters in Omaha to be reviewed by their attorney.

New era for an old cemetery

On June 23, the announcement from Omaha arrived, and Ulrich relayed it to the Township: “Our solicitor has reviewed the title commitment package … and we concur that Glen Arbor Township owns the cemetery … The NPS does not have a claim to the property, and we don’t have to do anything for the Township’s ownership of the fee title to continue. We can prepare an affidavit disclaiming ownership to remove the cloud on the title caused by the 1977 deed, but we still will need to work together to resolve the access easement issue.” 

Since the cemetery is surrounded by National Park land, the Township is entitled to access to the cemetery. Where that access will be is one of the first things to be determined by the Township and the Park. 

“Glad we got it resolved,” Ulrich commented later, then added a salient point. “Whether it belonged to the township or the Park, we would have made sure it was preserved.” He added that citizen efforts moved the project along faster than it would have, otherwise.

Glen Arbor Township administrator Peter Van Nort said he is happy at this turn of events, as is Township trustee John Peppler. 

“Great news,” Peppler said upon hearing of the decision. “Now we can really move forward and clean it up the way those people that are there now should be honored.”

White, Siepker and all of the history groups are also thrilled. One ramification of Glen Arbor regained ownership is that cemetery projects will no longer be regulated by the Park. The Township, now responsible for the cemetery’s maintenance, will decide how to administer them—whether through a committee, a related nonprofit, or by some other method. 

Either way, the cemetery projects, once approved by the board, will be mostly completed by volunteers and largely funded through donations. We will need a lot of help from the community and cemetery descendants to realize these goals.

Linda Alice Dewey is an artist and author of Aaron’s Crossing: An Inspiring True Ghost Story and The Ghost Who Would Not Die: A Runaway Slave, a Brutal Murder, and a Mysterious Haunting. Her books are available at the Cottage Bookshop and Evolve in Glen Arbor. Her art is available at LindaAliceDewey.com.