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UPCOMING PROGRAMS
Mark your
calendar
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Wednesday, June 9, 7:00 pm at the
north end of Oval Beach. A naturalist led walk in our Saugatuck
Harbor Natural Area.
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A WALK IN THE DUNES
Come join other SDHS members as we
celebrate our new natural area. I am planning to bring a
picnic supper for our three naturalists, and suggest you also
bring your picnic basket. We will start the walk at 7 PM from
the north end of Oval Beach. As of May 17, the entrance fee is
$6 if you do not have a beach pass, and members might want to
carpool. You can park at Mt. Baldhead. I have asked our city
council to allow SDHS members free admission for this one
event . We will update you when we hear from the council. Any
questions--- call Jane Underwood at 857-2268 |
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Wednesday, July 14, 7:00 pm at the
Old School House, A Tale of Two Weddings. Jim Hanson will tell
how his family settled in the Saugatuck area 90 years ago.
SAVE THESE DATES
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Saturday, May 22: Museum Hosts' Orientation Training 10:00 AM at
the Museum. If you are interested in being a host at the Museum
this year, there's still time to volunteer. REPLY to this email or
call Bill Hess at (269) 857-1081.
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Saturday, May 29: Annual SDHS Members Museum Reception 5:30-8:30
PM at the Museum. Look for additional details soon.
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Sunday, May 30: Museum Opens for the Season Noon-4:00 PM Daily
through Labor Day. Weekends in September and October
WHAT YOU MISSED
Azalea
and Rhododendron
Wonderland Garden Walk
MEMORIAL DAY - REMEMBERING SAUGATUCK'S FIRST CASUALTY IN WW I
On June 18, 1918, Mrs.
Harry Morris of 660 Lake Street, Saugatuck, received an official
telegram from the War Department that her son Charles had been
killed in action on the battlefields of France. He was the first
Saugatuck casualty of the "war to end all wars".
Charles Freshe in France, With His Mother's Gold Star
Private Charles J. Frehse was born in Chicago on
Oct. 13, 1893. After his widowed mother married Saugatuck resident
Harry Morris in 1907, he and his brother Russell came to Saugatuck
to live. He attended Saugatuck schools for 5 years, was a member
with his family of the Saugatuck Congregational Church, and played
on the Local YMCA Baseball team.
May 1910 Local Y.M.C.A. Baseball Team - Back Row -
Russell Frehse, Lyman Sailor, Charles J. Frehse, Earl Van Leun,
Hazen Koning; Front Row - Van Rogers, Woodworth Naughtin, Robert
Ruley, John Pear, George Sewers.
Charles enlisted on April 8, 1917, two days after
Congress declared war on Germany. After 6 or 7 weeks of training at
Port Royal, SC, he left for France as a member of the 45th Co, 5th
Regt, US Marine Corps. The Frehse family has pictures which show
Charles with his fellow marines at St. Nazaire, France (a major
unloading point for troops) on Nov. 10 and 14th, 1917.
On June 18, 1918, his name was announced by the War
Department as one of 45 servicemen killed in action in the fighting
northwest of Chateau-Thierry at Belleau Wood. Charles died Jun. 6,
1918, and is buried in the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, Belleau,
France. The Commercial Record wrote at the time: "Thus is a gold
star added to our service flag, and if the dead can know, it is
certain that Charlie Frehse is proud that his star commemorates his
supreme sacrifice."
The following year his mother, Lillian Frehse
Morris, published this tribute to her lost son:
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Somewhere in France, where duty led,
He fills a patriot grave;
The Lark sings high above his head
Only the lark knows the hallowed bed
Where lies my soldier brave.
Sacred the ground where my soldier sleeps
Who came at his country's call,
Onward the tide of battle sweeps;
Only the lark o'er his bosom weeps
Yet he gave to the world his all.
MOTHER
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After the war, Lillian was to visit her son's grave
in France with a group of Gold Star Mothers. She was a President of
the American Legion Auxiliary, Bruner-Frehse Post (named after her
son Charles) and remained active until she died at the age of 91 in
1964. Lillian rests in Riverside Cemetery with her husband Harry. On
this Memorial Day, our thoughts and prayers go out to "Gold Star"
mothers and families everywhere. contributed by
Chris Yoder
Thanks to Patti Kirk for the photos
from the Morris-Frehse Collection, now in the SDHS Archives. |
You are invited to
An Evening at
Historic Kemah
Space is limited - Last Chance
Please reserve by May 21
Call (269) 857-5751
Danny Esterline, Mike Jones & Greg Trzybinski,
The Saugatuck-Douglas Historical Society Board,
and the evening's sponsors invite you to attend
An Evening at Historic Kemah
A rare opportunity to tour one of Michigan's finest examples of
American Arts & Crafts architecture and gardens, to benefit the
Saugatuck-Douglas Historical Society and its programs, including the
Saugatuck Area Gay History Project
Cocktails & Hors d'oeuvres
June 5, 2010 | 5:00 to 8:00 p.m.
$130 per person
Kemah | 633 Allegan Street | Saugatuck
Sponsors
Bud Baty & Max Matteson | Duane Brown & Kevin Martin | Ken Carls &
Jim Schmiechen
Larry Dark & Vic Bella | Mark Davis | Jon Helmrich & Stephen Mottram
| Steve Merouse & Mark Neidlinger
Original Design | 1906 | Thomas Eddy Tallmadge, architect
Re-Design | 1927-32 | Carl Hoerman, architect
Restoration | 2001-Present |
Danny Esterline, Greg Trzybinski, and Mike Jones, owners
Situated high on Allegan Hill
overlooking Lake Kalamazoo, this finely restored 1906 Arts & Crafts
cottage was re-designed in the 1920s by the important Saugatuck
artist-architect Carl Hoerman. A splendid meeting of Arts & Crafts,
Prairie Style, and Art Nouveau, with references to the English Cotswold
style and Mr. Hoerman's own Bavarian roots, Kemah's architecture is
complemented by museum-quality Mission furniture, art pottery, stained
glass, and other appropriate appointments.
Mr. Hoerman's 1920s
clients were William Springer, a member of the Chicago Board of Trade and
his wife, Alys, whose considerable interest in interior design and the
arts contributed to Hoerman's vision for Kemah.
The Heritage Preservation Group is please to share
its Strategic Plan for 2010-2011. The plan, which was built on
former group members comments over the past few months, was unveiled
to the Historical Society Board in April and to Society members at
the annual meeting on May 12, 2010.
We are very pleased to share this plan, which
provides a vision for future growth and a blueprint for using our
resources wisely to build a new culture of preservation,
sustainability and responsibility.
The plan was drafted over the course of several
months this past winter and includes comments from board members,
project sponsors, members, and Saugatuck Douglas citizens.
Chief elements of the plan include:
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Revised Mission Statement. The Heritage
Preservation Group revised mission statement reads, "invites the
community to celebrate the local people, places, and events of our
past and encourage a sustainable future through education, advocacy,
and documentation."
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Statement of Core Values.
The plan articulates 4 core values,
including putting the needs of environmental and cultural
sustainability first in order to educate the community in the value
of maintaining our history and bridging history with our community's
future.
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Identification of Three Focus Areas .
The plan identities three focus areas where the Heritage
Preservation intends to make a significant difference in the next
2-3 years:
1) Educate: Offer education to local schools, residents,
businesses, and visitors about the benefits of using heritage
preservation tools and resources;
2) Advocate: Advocate for the value of history in sustaining
the cultural, natural, and built elements that ensure community
continuity; and
3) Document: Document the area's heritage and provide openaccess to this information. Each focus area requires that the
Heritage Preservation programs and initiatives work together to
achieve common objectives and measurable targets.
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Blueprint for Volunteer Participation .
The plan creates and foster shared values that strengthen the
quality of our programs and ensure volunteer participation. By
setting priorities and providing a focus for the future, the plan
helps our stakeholders, members, and volunteers plan for the future
while also giving them the flexibility to determine and respond to
the areas to which they are most interested,
The hard work begins now, as we turn this into a
living document in which we work together to achieve important and
measurable goals. If you would like to learn more about the Heritage
Preservation Group, please contact Jeff Wilcox at
jeff@jeffwilcox.com or
by phone at (269) 857-4901. submitted by Cameron Campbell
NEW ARCHIVES ROOM
A sneak peak at the new archives room in the lower
level of the OSH that your donations made possible! The shelves are
up, the boxes have been moved into the room. Now, volunteers are
needed to help organize the new space and process both old and new
acquisitions. Even a few hours a week are appreciated. Contact Mary
Voss at
archives@sdhistoricalsociety.org
OLD SCHOOL HOUSE "BACK-IN-TIME" PATH GETS WOOD FROM MT. BALDHEAD
STAIRS
Wood that has carried countless thousands of
visitors up their long climb to the top of Mt. Baldhead soon will
start a second life bringing visitors on The Old School House's
"Back-In-Time Pathway" to the viewing station that looks out at and
tells about our landmark dune.
During the recent construction of a new Mt. Baldhead
stairway, a number of weathered but unworn side planks from the old
stairway's structural framework were saved by the project's
contractor Plaggemars Construction for the Saugatuck-Douglas
Historical Society to use on the Old School House grounds.
Scott Plaggemars (left), of Holland's Plaggemars
Construction, and Saugatuck Mayor Barry Johnson stand before the
newly opened Mt. Baldhead stairway to show the old stairway's "282"
sign, now destined for the Old School House project.
One of the learning stations at the Old School,
House "Back-In-Time" path will focus on the history and significance
of the Mount Baldhead dune, visible from a raised observation
platform at the far northwest corner of the grounds.
A boardwalk approaching this platform is being
designed to include a commemorative section using the salvaged
planks, along with the "282" sign that was placed at the top of the
old stairway to tell visitors how many stairs they climbed.
submitted by John Peters
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