The Leelanau Historical Society hosts the third annual Leelanau Maritime History Festival on Saturday, Sept. 21, from 10 am-3 pm at the Leelanau Historical Society, located at 203 E. Cedar St. in Leland.
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The Leelanau Historical Society recognizes that these two cemeteries in Suttons Bay contain numerous early settlers of Leelanau County and their families, representing a historical record and an integral part of the local heritage that must be preserved. This workshop on Tuesday, Aug. 27, from 3-7 pm is being held to rehabilitate and preserve the gravestones at the Suttons Bay Township Cemetery and adjacent St. Michael Catholic Cemetery, which are located at the end of W. First St. Leelanau Historical Society staff will teach gentle gravestone cleaning methods recommended by the Department of the Interior. Bring gloves, kneeling pad, and pruning shears. All other supplies will be provided.
The Leelanau Historical Society and Leland Township Public Library will host acclaimed historian and Harvard fellow, Dr. Anna-Lisa Cox, at the Leland Old Art Building on July 19 at 6:30 pm. A donation of $10 is suggested at the door. Seating is limited, registration required. Click here to register. Cox’s lecture is titled “A Free and Independent State: Leelanau County and its Connection to the American Revolution and the Struggle for Freedom and Equality in Early America.” She is a non-resident fellow at The Hutchins Center for African and African American Research Harvard University.
Leelanau County cemeteries contain numerous early European settlers and their families, representing an important historical record and an integral part of the local heritage. These graves and monuments are the last and often only record of their life. Repairing, cleaning, and caretaking these physical community archives is a meaningful way to preserve history. Over the last five years the Leelanau Historical Society has taken an active role in facilitating workshops to teach best-practice rehabilitation methods with instruction from professional monument conservators. Join the Historical Society on May 24 for a Beechwood Cemetery Cleaning Bee. Click here for more information.
The Leelanau Historical Society will offer a “Researching Digital Newspapers” workshop on Thursday, April 4, at 1 pm at the Glen Lake Community Library in Empire for the public to learn about Central Michigan University’s Digital Michigan Newspaper Portal. The portal is a free website for researching Michigan’s historic newspapers. Click here to register for the workshop.
Join the Leelanau Historical Society and the Omena Historical Society on Wednesday, Nov. 29, at the Suttons Bay High School Auditorium for “A Kchi Wiikwedong Anishinaabe History Project Summary: talking about the past for the present (and the future).” This free event is open to the public. The Kchi Wiikwedong Anishinaabe History Project was started in 2021 by Emily Modrall in an effort to bring greater visibility and awareness to the very long history of this region as an Anishinaabe homeland. Her presentation this evening summarizes this project and its outcomes as the project enters its final months.
Join the Leelanau Historical Society on Saturday, Sept. 16, from 10 am to 3 pm for a celebration of Leelanau’s dynamic maritime past. Come learn about the peninsula’s vital and sometimes tragic connection to the Great Lakes. The second annual Leelanau Maritime History Festival will be hosted at the Leelanau Historical Society Museum in Leland.
Bohemian Valley, Bohemian Beach, Bohemian Road, the Bohemian Settlement, and the Bohemian Cemetery. From where does the name Bohemian originate and why do we find it in Leelanau County? Rebecca Gearing Carlson asks this question in part six of our Leelanau Farming Family Series. “When I think of the word Bohemian, the social and cultural movement of the 19th century comes to mind: writers, journalists, painters, actors, and other creative people living outside the norms of society. Thackeray’s Vanity Fair, Puccini’s La Boheme, and Bizet’s Carmen are beautifully written stories about the Bohemians who purposely pushed the accepted limits of societal practices and despised conventionality. The only similarities, however, between Bohemianism and the central European Bohemians are the names.”
The Schaub name, now ubiquitous on the peninsula, begins to appear on plat maps for Leelanau County in 1881, writes Rebecca Carlson in this second installment in a series about the legacy and impact of Leelanau County farming families. According to relatives of Marv and Edie, the Schaubs arrived from Germany landing at either the Fox or Manitou Islands before moving to the Leelanau Peninsula. These immigrants worked the lumber camps on these islands, made money and then proceeded on to the peninsula. The Homestead Act of 1862 opened the opportunity for these immigrants to own land, prosper, and raise their families. A family member stated the early Schaub settlers brought grapevines with them to plant for their first crops; later, potatoes and cherry trees were added to the farm produce.
The Leland Township Public Library and the Leelanau Historical Society are collaborating to host a program called “The Crib Shines On” on Thursday, June 1, at 1 pm at the library. This program, featuring the North Manitou Light Keepers, aims to shed light on the history of The Crib, an iconic offshore lighthouse, as well as the ongoing restoration project undertaken by the North Manitou Light Keepers.