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.
Whether directly or indirectly connected to the Gill’s Pier Catholic Church, the termination of full-service masses at “the church in the orchard,” St. Wenceslaus, and moving to limited use, is a historic and cultural loss, a communal and civic loss, and ultimately a loss of vital Leelanau County history. Honored as a Michigan Historical Site both for the church and cemetery, St. Wenceslaus has witnessed almost 136 years of Leelanau County History. It stands as a testament to the births, baptisms, confirmations, weddings, deaths, and many celebrations of this interwoven farming community. By changing to “limited use,” this means a loss of social services, a loss of spiritual education, and ultimately loss of a place of prayer.
Patient, selfless, nurturers. The American farmer intrinsically understands these three words 365 days a year without complaint, without dedicated health benefits, and without guaranteed vacations, writes Rebecca Carlson in this feature on the Skeba family, part of her ongoing series on Leelanau farming families and their impacts on the County. The Skeba family farm began in 1877 which translates to 147 years of continuous, single-family management with lots of backbreaking, hard work, but ultimately resulting in a rewarding vocation and livelihood.
WCMU Public Television will air Saving the Barn: The Leelanau County Poor Farm, a locally produced documentary on the history, preservation, and future of the Leelanau County Poor Farm/County Infirmary. The film is a multi-year project of the Leelanau County Historic Preservation Society (LCHPS) and videographer, Joe Vandermeulen. WCMU Public Television has scheduled three broadcast times in March for Saving the Barn: The Leelanau County Farm: Sunday, March 17, at 6:30 pm; Thursday, March 21 at 5 am; and Saturday, March 23 at 10:30 am. The film will be subtitled. Click here to view a 30-second preview.
During 2023, Suttons Bay resident Rebecca Gearing Carlson has researched and written a series of narrative historical pieces about Leelanau County farming families, which we have published in the Glen Arbor Sun. Read those stories here.
The early pioneers of the Leelanau peninsula came from many places and backgrounds. The Farrant family were French Canadians who arrived by 1867, parents and four of their grown sons. Their story began with several of the early log cabins in Kasson township along the Baatz Road. The new release The Farrants of Glen Haven and Empire: A Story Restored chronicles the family over four generations.
North Unity, on the Good Harbor Bay side of Pyramid Point, was settled in 1855 by a group of Bohemians who had emigrated from their homeland in central Europe to seek a better life in America.
This week, under little fanfare, Leelanau County celebrated it’s 150th birthday. That is, on Feb. 27, 1863, the Michigan State Legislature create the county of Leelanau with three townships — Centerville, Glen Arbor and Leelanau. The peninsula that looks like the mitten’s pinky finger had previously been part of Grand Traverse County (along with what is now Benzie County).