The Leelanau Historical Society invites the community to an evening with Susan Wasserman, author of the 2026 Michigan Notable Book Stepping Off the Boat: Stories from North Manitou Island, on Wednesday, Aug. 12, at 6 pm in the Munnecke Community Room, 203 E. Cedar St., Leland.
A visit to the Manitou Islands requires focus and strategy to navigate abundant poison ivy, black flies, mosquitos, and ticks. Although many fall in love at first sight with this pair of remote islands in northern Lake Michigan, part of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, some may wonder what the draw is, as they disembark onto either of these windswept, buggy, and vegetation-dense islands, writes Abby Chatfield. With the Manitou Islands all but closed to visitors this year (unless you have a private boat)—as the National Lakeshore rebuilds the docks, we are reflecting on the Manitous with an ongoing series about experiences we’ve had on the islands.
Nationally acclaimed historian and Harvard University professor Philip J. Deloria will present “Building a Nation in the Aftermath of Revolution: The Northwest Ordinance and the Creation of New American States” on Wednesday, July 22, at 6 pm at the Leland Public School Performing Arts Center. Hosted by the Leelanau Historical Society, the lecture is part of the Society’s America 250 programming commemorating the semiquincentennial anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
It’s that time of year again as many in northern Michigan, including here in Leelanau County, begin tapping the maple trees to reap their golden harvest. As Old Man Winter fades, maple trees offer us the first gift of the season—a pure, golden sap which through lots of hard work is transformed into the rich, sweet syrup beloved by many. The 2025, U.S. maple syrup industry produced 5.7 million gallons according to the USDA statistics service. Tapping Maple trees for their sap began long before Europeans settled in America. Early origins of maple sugaring are preserved in oral traditions of Anishinaabeg and other tribes of northern Michigan and northeastern North America. The Anishinaabe people began the deep connection to the tradition and referred to the season as Ziinzibaakwadoke Giizis (Sugar Moon). “We are celebrating a tradition that started with indigenous groups in the American Northeast and Great Lakes that included the Anishinaabe,” said William Derouin, Agricultural Manager at the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. This program has grown to include the GTB Sugarbush camp, which will be held in Peshawbestown on March 13-14 and March 20-21.
The Leelanau Historical Society, in partnership with Here:Say Storytelling, will present Meet Me at the Loaf: A Celebration of Sugar Loaf in Stories. The Jan. 29 event at Solon Township Hall near Cedar will feature memories and voices connected to one of Leelanau County’s most beloved landmarks: Sugar Loaf Mountain. Doors open at 5:30 pm, offering guests the chance to reconnect with old friends, neighbors, and fellow “Sugar Loafers.” The storytelling program begins at 6:30.
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.
“The Search for Anna and Levi: A Lost History of Black Homesteaders in Leelanau County” will show at Leland School on May 31—not at the hamstrung Sleeping Bear Dunes headquarters, as originally scheduled. The Bay Theatre in Suttons Bay initially screened the film in February. Northern Michigan has begun to feel like a second home for Philadelphia resident Carmen Hopson. Ever since she received a life-changing Facebook message in September 2022 from Kevin Brooks, an amateur genealogist based in Grand Rapids, who shared photos to show that their ancestors—hers Black, his White—were neighboring farm owners and pioneering homesteaders more than 100 years ago along Little Glen Lake. “It feels like we’re coming home. This is a place where we will be welcomed home,” said Hopson. The National Lakeshore decided that it could no longer host the screening following the Trump administration’s March 27 executive order, titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” that cast this nation’s collective reexamination of historical racism as a “distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.”
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.
In September 2022, two Black women from Philadelphia opened a life-changing Facebook message from a White man in Grand Rapids. Kevin Brooks reached out to cousins Carmen Hopson and Coleen Burton with his discovery that their families were inextricably linked more than 100 years ago in Empire Township. The relationship was not born of freed slaves still economically dependent on their former owners, nor were they hired live-in employees. Rather, the respective families of Joseph Payment and Anna and Levi Johnson were neighboring farm owners and pioneering homesteaders along Little Glen Lake who forged a friendship born of necessity and steeped in mutual respect. What transpired from that visit and a subsequent one evolved into the documentary The Search for Anna and Levi. Subtitled “A Lost History of Black Homesteaders in Leelanau County” it was written and directed by Joe VanderMeulen, a local science journalist and documentary filmmaker. In honor of Black History Month, a special preview screening of the film The Search for Anna and Levi will take place on Sunday, Feb. 23, at 2 pm at The Bay Theatre in Suttons Bay.
The Leelanau Historical Society proudly presents “Lake Leelanau, Spirit of the Lake,” a captivating documentary that dives into the history and nostalgia of Lake Leelanau—a cherished body of water in Leelanau County. The film will screen on Jan. 28 at 7 pm at The Alluvion, located on the second floor of the Commongrounds Building in Traverse City. Pre-sale tickets cost $12, or $15 at the door. Produced by the Leelanau Historical Society and directed by Keith Patterson of Manitou Films, this film is a heartfelt tribute to the lake’s enduring legacy. The film is a recipient of a 2024 State History Award from the Historical Society of Michigan.