Leelanau County’s historic Poor Farm Barn will host some of the area’s finest musicians at a string of three fund-raising concerts beginning on Wednesday, July 29, with subsequent concerts scheduled for Aug. 12 and Aug. 26. These Picnic Concerts are being organized by the Leelanau County Historic Preservation Society to help fund the last big item needed to open the barn to wider community use—a set of bathrooms.
The public is invited to tour Leelanau County’s Historic Poor Farm Barn on Saturday, June 13 from 3-5 pm. The nonprofit charged with restoring and repurposing the Poor Farm Barn is hosting an open house to showcase the restoration and re-purposing work recently completed. Leaders of the Leelanau County Historic Preservation Society will be on hand to guide the tours and answer questions about the past, present, and future of this community treasure. Visitors will also be offered home-baked cookies and yard games.
Remembering and preserving the past can mean many things. In the case of the Leelanau County Poor Farm Barn, it means… listening to music? That’s right. A series of three summer concerts will take place at the historic site across from Myles Kimmerly Park outside Maple City, beginning July 30 with Rita Hosking and Sean Feder with Andre Villoch. The shows are part of an effort by the Leelanau County Historic Preservation Society, the Leelanau Historical Society and the gardening non-profit Row-by-Row (formerly Buckets of Rain) to generate interest, and eventually funds, for restoring and revitalizing the barn.
Celebrate National Preservation Month with a special screening of Saving the Barn—The Leelanau County Poor Farm, a documentary that brings to life a little-known but important chapter of local history. The program at the Old Art Building in Leland on Wednesday, May 14, at 4 pm begin with remarks from Steve Stier, president of the Leelanau County Historic Preservation Society, who will share insights on the ongoing efforts to preserve the Poor Farm barn and the broader importance of saving historic places.
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.
May is National Historic Preservation Month, a time set aside to highlight the important work of organizations working to preserve historic places like Port Oneida. Locally, in Leelanau County, there are 25 nationally recognized historic places and 18 additional state recognized historic sites, with several organizations which operate to support their preservation. Mae Stier writes that she and her husband Tim Egeler—a descendent of the Egelers and Kelderhouses, who were early settlers to Leelanau—spent the summer leading up to their wedding learning the names of family members. “When we committed to creating our future together, we did so by standing under a giant old oak tree that looked out at the Manitou Islands, on a farmstead that members of his family had once cared for.”
On Saturday, May 27, the Leelanau County Historic Preservation Society invites the community to a family-friendly, free event to celebrate the rehabilitation of the Leelanau County Poor Farm Barn. The event is being held to honor the dedicated community of contractors, volunteers, and community partners who worked tirelessly to preserve this historic structure.
The Leelanau County Historic Preservation Society (LCHPS) is pleased to announce that a public dedication of the Michigan Historic Marker for the Leelanau County Poor Farm and Barn will be held on Saturday, July 10, at 11 am at the Leelanau County Poor Farm, located at 1110 W. Burdickville Road near Maple City.
Discover Historic Leelanau through a PowerPoint tour of officially recognized sites, presented by historians Christine Byron and Thomas Wilson on Thursday, Sept. 27, at 7 p.m. at the Glen Arbor Township Hall. This free community event is sponsored by the Leelanau County Historic Preservation Society.
Do you have any memorabilia about the Leelanau County Poor Farm? Share your memories with the Leelanau County Historic Preservation Society during two upcoming Discovery Days: Saturday, July 14, and Saturday, July 28, both events from 10 a.m. until noon at the Kasson Township Hall (10988 S. Newman Rd., near Maple City).