Estate sale held at former Rich Quick property in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
Photo: Joshua Humphrey at the Rich Quick property on Alligator Hill, which overlooks Sleeping Bear Bay and will pass into the hands of the National Lakeshore next week.
From staff reports
An estate sale is planned for Saturday and Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, May 29-30 from 9 a.m.-9 p.m., at the former home of Rich Quick on Alligator Hill, overlooking Sleeping Bear Bay in the National Lakeshore. The address of the home is 8317 West Sky Line Drive, Empire.
Proceeds from the sale will benefit Joshua Humphrey, 19 years old and the grandson of Quick’s late wife Bonnie. He will vacate the property next week as it passes into the hands of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore on Tuesday, June 1.
Rich Quick died on December 2, 2020, at age 85. Bonnie, the longtime Glen Arbor Township clerk, passed away on May 6, 2020—one week before Joshua’s 18th birthday. Now that the patriarch of the home has passed, the National Park will take the property. Humphrey lived there for the past four years. Quick finished building his house in 1972. That was two years after the National Lakeshore, which included his land, was signed into law. Homes built within Park boundaries after December 31, 1964, were to be sold and transferred to the Lakeshore after the resident passed away, according to Sleeping Bear deputy superintendent Tom Ulrich. Quick missed that deadline by eight years.
Click here to read more about Rich Quick, a Glen Arbor icon who struggled to keep his home when the National Lakeshore formed.
Humphrey, currently a server at the Western Avenue Grill, has few options for where to live. His parents lost custody of him as a teenager. He and his girlfriend Madison plan to move in, temporarily, with an uncle who lives in Lake Ann. Following the summer, he hopes to find a house to purchase or rent in Leelanau County or the Traverse City area, but affordable homes are few and far between. Humphrey aspires to be an electrician or a real estate agent. He seeks an electrician apprenticeship, and is also close to getting his real estate license online. Call Humphrey at 231-835-0580 if you have an opportunity for him.
“This is a big fork in my life,” he said. “This house is the only stable thing I’ve had in my life. This has been my anchor.”
Ann Arbor realtor Caitlin Olmsted Phillips, a board member of Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear and the great-granddaughter of settler D.H. Day, is helping Humphrey, pro bono, with the estate sale.
“A family friend reached out to me and said this young man is having a hard time finding estate sale people and storage opportunities,” Phillips told the Sun. “He’s struggling to find help before handing the place over to the Park.”
“We just want [Joshua] in a good place emotionally. We want to help him get the work done.”
An estate sale specialist is helping to price items this week. Phillips expects that a few antiques in the home might go directly to a major auction house such as Christie’s. The estate sale this weekend will include tools, fine china, collectibles, patio furniture, and miscellaneous household goods. Patrons and customers are asked to bring their own truck. The sellers are not able to make deliveries.
The estate sale will be conducted in accordance with COVID rules: 5 parties allowed into the house every 45 minutes. Major credit cards and cash will be accepted.
Park has no fast plans for Quick property
Sleeping Bear’s Ulrich confirmed that June 1 is the date by which Humphrey must vacate the house.
The Park won’t do anything immediately with the property.
“When we take possession of a place, we first assess it for eligibility for the National Registry of Historical Places. But this probably won’t qualify,” said Ulrich.
“If there’s no immediate Park use, we remove it and restore it to its natural conditions. But nothing is planned yet.”
