
Sunday Supper and Sunset
at the Lakeshore
Sunday, July 12th
from 6 PM until sunset
Hosted by Ellen & Richard Donovan
2641 Lakeshore Drive
(South of washout) $65 per person

Toast the summer at this lovely
lake front home and garden. After a dinner served hot off the
grill, sit on the shore to watch the sun set into Lake Michigan.
Tickets are selling fast. Just REPLY to
this email to make your reservation and we will be in touch.

Small Plates, Small Talk
Thursday, July 16th, 11 am - 2 pm Hosted by Ken Carls
325 Water Street, Douglas
$100 per person
Tickets still available.

Dine Around dinner guests at the
Red House, home of Ken Carls and Jim Schmiechen overlooking Wade's
Bayou in Douglas, have come to count on sitting down to tasty fare
around the big dining room table. This time guests will join Ken
in the kitchen and watch what's going on as he prepares a
selection of Red House favorites. Then guests will enjoy a "tapas
style" luncheon as they sample the day's fare - and experience
dishes they can add to their own cooking repertoire. Emphasis will
be on fresh, seasonal, easy-to-make dishes for casual dining.
For reservations, REPLY to this
email and we will be in touch.
Wildwood Progressive Dinner Party
Saturday, Sept. 19th, 6 - 9 pm
Hosted by Vito Masciopinto,
Susan & Mark Lauterbach,
Sarah Harris & Alex Fink
$100 per person
Only 3 tickets still available.
The event combines drinks, heavy
appetizers, and desserts with a look inside three new modern homes
and ending up on the roof top patio weather permitting (bring a
coat!) on Wildwood Lane in a "progressive dinner" styled tour of
homes.
Wildwood Lane, when completed, will
be a development of 14 future modern lake houses, each committed
to the preservation of the natural habitat and celebration of
modern architecture. Come explore the uniqueness of each of the
three completed homes while drinking and dining and experiencing
the latest in modern living, sustainable technologies, and modular
construction.
Inspiration comes from the
experimental Case Study Houses by Charles and Ray Eames, Richard
Neutra, Craig Ellwood, and Pierre Koenig. These houses blend the
openness and simplicity of modern living with craft, durability,
and sustainability to make them true modern lake houses.
For reservations, REPLY to this
email and we will be in touch.
April Board Meeting Summary
l
The Museum Exhibit Opening will include a special event for
charter and life members and Exhibit Sponsors/Donors; past and
present, which will take place prior to the general membership
event.
l
Beginning around May 1, the campaign to secure this year's Exhibit
Sponsorship donations will begin. Sponsors/Donors will be
recognized by a display inside the Museum.
l
Board approval was given for purchase of an iPad and specialized
stand which will become an electronic guestbook at the museum
beginning at the opening this year. The equipment and software
will enable follow up communications, membership and donation
solicitations to our Museum visitors.
l
Funds were approved for completion of improvements in the Peach
Orchard section of the Back-in-Time Garden.
l
10 bistro tables and table cloths have been purchased for use at
SDHS events and private rental events at the OSH.
l
Next month, the Board will consider a written schedule for
upgrading computers at the Old School House.
l
In the coming months, the Board will consider alternatives to how
the organization collects membership dues renewals. There is Board
consensus that there are too many classifications of membership
dues and that structure needs to be simplified and dues collected
in a more direct manner.
l
27 applications have been received for the position of Director of
the organization. A committee consisting of Sharon Kelly, Jim
Schmiechen, Ed Kelly, Bill Hess, Fred Schmidt, Judi Vanderbeck,
Ken Carls and Janie Flemming will review the applications, select
those candidates who should be interviewed, conduct the
interviews, and recommend a selection to the Board by the end of
June.
l
In December, Root Camp received a $3,000 grant from the Mignon
Sherwood Delano Foundation in Allegan to fund scholarships for
children who could not otherwise afford the tuition to attend the
camp. The Root Camp Committee is actively searching for
scholarship recipients and anyone who has a child in mind should
contact Ruth Johnson.
l
The SDHS Facebook page has been vastly upgraded through content
provided by our departed Curator, Jarrett Zeman. "Likes" of the
page have risen from 189 in January 2014 to over 600 today. Social
media is an avenue that has been identified by the Board to
attract younger members.
l
Our Programming Committee is working with the SCA on some
cooperative summer programs for kids.
submitted by Sharon Kelly
Welcome New Members
We would like to welcome the following new members who have joined the
Saugatuck-Douglas Historical Society since the last newsletter.
l
Don Straube & Paul Zur Nieden, Fennville, MI
News from the Archives
It's been a busy time at the archives office. A
number of people have contacted us recently about research that they
are doing and needed information. Among them were two students from
Aquinas College and a professor from New York who is inquiring about
the agricultural history of our area. As I was researching these
requests, I came across some data that I found most interesting. Old
timers here know all about this but some of our recent members might
not know how famous this area really is.
History of Peach Growing Along the Lakeshore
Early settlers to Saugatuck and
Douglas began setting out fruit trees to supply their home needs as
soon as they had a clearing. In fact as early as 1800, local
historian, May Heath writes that there was a peach orchard of 200
trees along the south bank of the Kalamazoo River about a mile east
of Douglas. Although it was known as the "Indian Peach Orchard" it
was probably planted by early fur traders as the trees were planted
in rows and the Indians never planted that way.
In 1839 Harrison Hutchinson was one of the first to
bring peach trees to the lakeshore, quickly followed by more. (Fruit
trees did especially well along the coast of Lake Michigan because
the cold winds off the Lake delayed blossom time. Early frosts
further in-land often killed delicate blossoms, decimating an entire
crop.) Early on there was no foreign market and the peaches and
other fruits were peddled locally to families and mill hands.
As early as 1870 the peach industry in St. Joe had
gained headway and Mr. McCormick, Hutchins and Loomis went to
investigate. They came back well pleased and the following year each
set 1,000 trees of a variety of peaches. This was the first start of
raising peaches with a commercial aim in mind. As the fruit ripened
it was sold to buyers who bought it on the trees and hired
harvesters to pick the fruit. Prices ran at $1 a peck net on the
Chicago market. According to reports gathered at the close of the 1879
season over 600,000 peach trees yielded an estimated 3,000,000
baskets of fruit. This report included those portions of Allegan and
Van Buren Counties bordering Lake Michigan. In Saugatuck alone, 1200
acres were set to peach-trees and over 400 acres were in full
bearing.

Click on the image for a higher resolution copy
One of the principal growers, William Corner, was
born in Devon, England in 1819. He purchased one hundred acres in
the township of Saugatuck in 1852, and by 1880 had 6,000 bearing
trees on one of the most attractive farms in the township. The
drawing below is of his farm from the 1880 History of Allegan and
Barry Counties with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches.

Click on the image for a higher resolution copy
To be continued next month.
submitted by Mary Voss
Find A Grave Web Site
A Wonderful Tool for One and All
In the
March 2015 Newsletter we had an article about Sophia
Goucher, who claimed to have been 107 years old at the time of her
death. Whether she was really that old is very much open to
question, but she certainly presented an interesting story.
As a part of
the research into her life, one of the references located was her
grave record in Find A
Grave. Sophia is buried in the Poplar Hill Cemetery,
Monterey Center, Allegan County, Michigan. Among the many services
offered by this web site is the ability to ask that someone take a
photo of the actual gravestone at a plot and then to post it with
the person's record. The Find A Grave system will share the
request with a number of volunteers living near the cemetery. The
request remains open until action is taken to close it . . . for
example, either providing the photo or reporting that no stone can
be found on the burial plot. The person who created the grave
record for Sophia in 2013 goes by the pseudonym "Scout". She was
also the person who went back to the cemetery with a camera in
hand and uploaded the following photo on May 10, 2015 to satisfy
my photo request.

Sophia Goucher, Born Oct. 22, 1783,
Died Dec. 31, 1897
Click on the image for a higher resolution copy
This wonderful
photo not only adds to our story by confirming that (even in
death) her claim of 107 years lives on, but it also gives us a
claimed month, day and year of birth - Oct. 22, 1783 (a date which
we did not have before).
"Scout" is a
very active Find A Grave participant. On her profile page we can
see that she has created 128,636 individual memorial records. She
has been a member of the Find A Grave community for 7 years, 7
months and 10 days and has added an average of 508 memorials each
week. She has posted 147,158 photos to varying records and has
taken 917 photos of gravestones in reply to requests, like the one
I made for Sophia. "Scout" is by no means unique. There are over
121 million grave records in Find A Grave, and the number grows
each day. These are predominantly (but not exclusively) American
cemeteries, to include military cemeteries overseas. It is very
likely that deceased parents, grandparents, and great grandparents
of each one of you readers can be found through a search on Find A
Grave.

Click on the image for a higher resolution copy
Records often
will include biographical details, gravestone and family photos,
and links to the graves of spouse, parents, siblings, and
children. In our area, a very thorough survey has been conducted
by SDHS volunteers of the Riverside Cemetery in Saugatuck; The
Douglas Cemetery; in Laketown Township - Gibson Cemetery; and in
Ganges Township- Taylor, Plummerville, Loomis and Hutchins
Cemeteries. The extensive photo records of the Historical Society
have been used to post portraits of many of these locals, and the
collected obituaries from the Commercial Record have allowed us to
provide detailed historical information on our local citizens of
the past. All of this is available over the internet to a
world-wide audience at the click of a finger. Find A Grave
provides this same capability to one and all, without any charge
for the user. An example of one local record from the Riverside
Cemetery is shown below as an example:

Click on the image for a higher resolution copy.
For a
short-cut to the local cemetery links (and many other information
resources), see the
SDHS On-Line Research Center.
submitted by Chris Yoder
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Charter
Members, Life Members, and Sponsors
are cordially invited to a
PRIVATE RECEPTION and PREVIEW
of the 2015 Museum Exhibition
prior to the annual Members' Reception
Private
Reception | 4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Members’ Reception | 5:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Saugatuck-Douglas History Museum
Park Street at Mt. Baldhead Park
Saugatuck
For your convenience, please
park at DeMond’s parking
lot and take the free shuttle to the Museum.
|
This year's all-new exhibition at the
Saugatuck-Douglas History Museum, opening for the season on Memorial
Day weekend, Sunday, May 24, Noon to 4 p.m., presents multiple
stories of how the Kalamazoo River and Lake Michigan have shaped and
reshaped our area’s way of living, working, relaxing and thinking
since the mid-1800s.
The Museum occupies the historic Saugatuck Pumphouse
at 735 Park Street, in a scenic garden setting along the west shore
of the Kalamazoo River at Mt. Baldhead Park, a short walk north from
the Saugatuck Chain Ferry's west-bank landing. Open daily through
Labor Day, Noon to 4 p.m. -- then with same hours every Saturday and
Sunday through the last Sunday in October -- its admission and
nearby parking are free.
"Water . . . A River, A Lake, A Place Called
Saugatuck-Douglas" engages visitors' imaginations to
accompany five travelers, each at different points in time, sharing
the experience, discovery and sometimes danger of their adventures
along our waterways. Their trips unfold in maps, pictures,
narratives and artifacts, plus "side stories" that add interesting
cultural perspectives, all set before a vast composite mural of more
than 200 historical archive photos that help visualize those earlier
times.
In Trip #1, the viewer assumes the role of reporter
for an eastern newspaper traveling downriver by dugout canoe in the
mid-1800s with Ottawa trader "Flying Cloud Woman", seeking the
village of Singapore and its fabled "Astor Hotel". The "Astor" turns
out to be a humorously named simple boarding house for arriving
settlers instead of the imagined grandeur conjured up by naming it
after wealthy fur-trading magnate John Jacob Astor.
Trip #2 casts the viewer as a mid-1800s logger hired
by Saugatuck timber entrepreneur Frank Geer in winter to cut and
haul logs over the frozen river to a riverbank "rollway". With the
spring thaw comes the dangerous job of rafting a log flotilla
downriver, thwarting log "rustlers", and distributing the timber
among five lumber mills in Douglas, Saugatuck and Singapore . . . a
process that cost the life of one of Saugatuck's prominent early
citizens.
With Trip #3, the viewer becomes a crew member on the
steamer McVea, one of more than 200 ships built in Saugatuck, making
an overnight "fruit run" taking peaches and passengers to Chicago in
1893. The McVea stops at Pier Cove and picks up a musician and a
famous architect who become interesting travel companions.
Trip #4 brings the viewer to Saugatuck from Chicago
by tourist excursion ship in 1919 as a teenage girl accompanying
school children to summer camp as one of their camp counselors.
Among the campers she encounters a youngster destined to become one
of America's most famous aviators.
On Trip #5, the viewer is a photographer riding along
on a local commercial fishing run pursuing sturgeon and whitefish,
reflecting on that industry's1890-1950 boom and bust. The trip
highlights a key Great Lakes innovation of that era, the enclosed
"fishing tug" designed to handle rough weather and allow
pre-processing the catch for faster, fresher delivery upon returning
to port.
After the final trip station, visitors will find a
"sticky-note feedback wall" presenting a series of questions related
to contemporary concerns about water, and inviting expression of
personal viewpoints or suggestions by posting sticky-note responses.
Nearby, three display stations feature a review of water quality
comparing lake, river, rain and tap water; a collection of rare
antique fishing lures; and for visitors of all ages, a
fish-identification game.
Floating above it all is a fanciful "school" of fish,
created by local artists Ted Reyda and Sally Winthers, representing
the species currently inhabiting our area's lakes and rivers.

This year's exhibition also introduces a new digital
sign-in station for visitors, to better reflect the geographical
range of distant visitors and enable them to request e-mail updates
on Museum and other Historical Society activities.
Design team credits for the new exhibition include:
James Schmiechen, curator-writer; Judy Hillman, designer; Ken Carls,
Kay Reckley and Sally Winthers, graphic designers; Vic Bella and Ted
Reyda, displays; Steve Teich, layout; Jarret Zeman, consultant; Jack
Sheridan and Kit Lane, story consultants; and Sam Fitzpatrick,
intern.

We Need YOU!
To Be a
Museum Volunteer Host This Season
We will have 182
two hour hosting shifts to fill at the Pump House Museum this
season. With only a little over 30 Society members volunteering to
help fill those openings so far, we need your help to ensure our
award winning Museum is fully staffed for the year.
Hosting is easy. You choose which day and time you
would like to host. You will be given one-on-one training or can
"shadow" an experienced host. Additionally, we have developed
simplified training materials for your use.
If you are interested or have questions about being a
volunteer host, just REPLY to this email or call Bill Hess at
269-857-1081
2015 Museum Exhibit Sponsors
A big thank you to all our Museum Exhibit Sponsors.
Sturgeon - $2,000
Jim Sellman - Shoreline Realtors, The Estate of Adrian Vincent
Coho - $1,000
Janie & Jim Flemming, Ross Hanley, Greg & Carol Josefowicz, Sharon
Kelly, Bud Baty & Max Matteson, Keith Walker, Doug & Deb West, Renee
Zita & Ed Ryan
Whitefish - $500
Larry & Shirley Akins, Patty Birkholz, Ken Carls, Floyd Fleming,
Bill Hess & Mike Mattern, Steve Hutchins, Ed Kelly, Lynn McClure,
Judy Oberholtzer, Susan Reck, Frances Vorys, Todd & Liz Warnock, Bob
& Sally Weist
Lake Trout - $250
Amazwi Contemporary Art, Valerie Atkin, Robin & Sharon Bauer, Timber
Bluff, Richard & Ellen Donovan, Rob Golub & Dede Dupre, Jon Helmrich
& Stephen Mottram, George Brown & Gregg Kurek, Candice Lewis, Jim &
Priscilla Lynch, Robert Palmer, Dr. Steve Debbink & Greg Plowe, Mark
Randall & Chris Saldivar, Dan & Sandy Jo Shanahan, Tracey Shafroth,
Star of Saugatuck, John Cannarsa & Tim Straker, Tim Wood
Yellow Perch - $100
Jim & Kat Cook, Jonathan Schreuer & Gary Kott, Christina Lewis,
Chris & Eileen Raphael, John & Peg Sanford, Fred & Janet Schmidt,
George & Dawn Schumann, Leslie Thompson, Howard & Judi Vanderbeck
Mark Your Calendar
2015 Monthly Programs and Tuesday Talks
If you would like
to sponsor one of the Monthly Programs, please
REPLY to this email and we'll be in touch. Sponsorships are $150
MONTHLY PROGRAMS
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June 10,
Coral Gables: The People
Behind the Place
sponsored by Jolene Jackson & Lonnie Hannaford
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July 8,
A Field Trip to the
Mildred A. Peterson Nature Preserve and the Interurban Trail
sponsored by Monty Collins & Jerry Dark
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August 12, Society
Picnic at the Old School House
SPECIAL PROGRAM ADDITION
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August 13, Civil
War Reenactors Program
Looking for a sponsor
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September 9,
Fishing:
Commercial & Recreational
sponsored by Howard & Paula Schultz
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October 14,
Crane's Orchard
Field Trip
Looking for a sponsor
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November 11,
Fire, Storm and
Ice: Shipwrecks sponsored by the
Star of Saugatuck, Marilyn & Bruce Starring
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December 13, Holiday
Party
If you would like
to sponsor one of the Tuesday Talks, please
REPLY to this email and we'll be in touch. Sponsorships are $150
TUESDAY TALKS
General sponsors:
Carolyn Richards
and Howard Rochte
l July
7, Trailblazing: Bringing the Blue Star Trail to
Saugatuck-Douglas
l July
14, Drone Photography of River and
Lake
sponsored by
Sharon Kelly
l July
21, Bee Keeping
sponsored by
Osman Flowers
& Firs
NEW ADDITION TO THE
TUESDAY TALKS
l July
28, Kalamazoo River Sturgeon Habitat Restoration Project
Looking for a sponsor
l August
4, Peach Belt School
Looking for a sponsor
l August
11, Invasive Species: On Land and Water sponsored by
Harbor Duck
Adventures Co., Brent Birkholz
l August
18, The Art of Water
sponsored by
Ken Carls
l August
25, Extreme Yachts and Classic Boat Restoration - Macatawa Bay
Boat Works
sponsored by the Star of Saugatuck, Marilyn &
Bruce Starring
Garden Happenings
"If
you have a library and a garden, you have everything you need." ---
Marcus Tullius Ciceroe
We have the garden and soon, fingers crossed, we will
have the library . . .the "Little Free Library" that is.
Thanks to the Rotary Club and Ingrid Boyers who are
working on funding this project. This "library" will be in the shape
of the Big Pavilion, with thanks going to our own talented John
Migas who is constructing it. It is a library that will be placed in
the garden next to our Eeyore bench in the Children's area. It will
be filled with books and magazines for kids and adults to read and
keep. What a fun addition this will be to our garden.
The Pollinator Habitat is coming to life. In our
Peach Orchard, sections of sod were removed and planted elsewhere.
In its place will be perennials that have flowers our pollinators
can feast upon.
Also, a no-mow grass seed was installed which will do
two things: One - it will provide a look and feel of a real orchard
and Two - it will protect our trees from the weed whips and
lawnmowers. We are sure our maintenance crew from Lakeshore Lodging
will really appreciate this!
Many thanks to the National Azalea Foundation, John
Migas and all who helped spread the mulch on April 25th.
Mulch not only makes our garden beautiful, it is beneficial to the
plants during our hot times of summer.
Don't forget on Saturday, June 20th, we
will have a Broad leaf Evergreens pruning seminar. Learn how to take
care of these beauties after they are finished blooming. The seminar
starts at 10 am and donations will be appreciated.

Root Camp is getting itself ready for our
second ever camp. It will happen during the week of June 22-25. We
will have two sessions during this week, one from 9-12 and the
second one will be from 1-4. Both sessions will have the same
curriculum and what a curriculum it is! We will have lessons on the
shipwrecks of Lake Michigan, the skill of being a Tinsman, our own
Village Puppeteers, an alligator sanctuary, and a backpack full of
science experiments, thanks to the amazing donation from our own Bee
Man, Michael Pcolinsky.
Please go to the
SDHS website for easy on-line registration. We need your
help in distributing our scholarships from the generous Mignon
Sherwood Delano Foundation grant. If you know of any children that
could use a full scholarship to Root Camp, please contact
Ruth Johnson at 616-218-0086 or
ruthannj@frontier.com.
One last thing, many thanks to Gary Medler for a generous donation
to the SDHS in sponsoring Root Camp and other programs in our
Society.
Until next month,
The Landscape and Root Camp Committees
Thomas Dale Wolterink,
74
|
 |
Tom Wolterink, a member
of the Society, passed away on April 25. Click
HERE for more details. |
Continue The Garden
Experience!

John Migas leads a Garden Walk for the Society last year
Click on the image for a higher resolution copy
For those who may have missed the
May program for SDHS at Rosebay Nursery, there is another
opportunity to stroll through a mass of azaleas and rhododendron
when John Migas opens his Woodlands Nursery to guests for a Garden
walk on Tuesday, May 26th at 7 pm.
The nursery is located at 6541
Bradley Road in Saugatuck (behind the blue Masonic Lodge building
off of the Blue Star Highway). John, a past President of the
Azalea Society of America, has been an active participant in
development and maintenance of the "Back-In-Time Garden" at the
Old School House. In case of sprinkles, bring your umbrella. For
questions, contact Chris Yoder at 616-212-3443.
submitted by Chris Yoder
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