Life in Omena

This photo is labeled “Stan BAM”. “Omena Dock”. Photo credit Omena Historical Society. – Stan (Stanley) Moore and Blanche Anderson Moore (BAM or Bamboo) are likely candidates. The old dock was closed in 2021. In need of repairs and deemed not safe, it stood a testament to what once was. This old dock has a long history. Reverend Peter Dougherty noted in the fall of 1851 that the site of the present OTYC dock would be a “good landing”. He sketched a possible path from that landing to his mission site as “good for road”. In the 1890’s the Hotel… Read More »

  Outdoor Movies in Omena? What a great idea! But it was not just for the fun of it that the Kimmerly’s and John Putnam decided to try outdoor movies one summer in Omena. Bea and Myles Kimmerly took over Anderson’s store in 1947 and for the next eleven years they lived over the store and worked hard, carrying a little bit of everything, from potatoes to kerosene, catering to everyone from resorters, and cottagers, to migrant workers who came to town to harvest cherries and apples. It was a short season that could “make or break” the store. But… Read More »

  What did the family do for fun growing up at Villa Marquette? There were eventually ten children surrounded by Jesuit priests and academics. But this interesting family found ways to have fun that were enjoyed by all. One thing they did was raise pet crows every year. The boys and Chester would “steal a one from a nest and raise it from a baby. As soon as it was able to fend for itself we would let it go and they always stuck around all summer,” Mary Hallett Stanton told me. “They all learned to say hello, and all… Read More »

The children in the photo are, left to right: Bill , Hartford, Roddie, Chet, Cyril, Ed, their dad (Chester) and mom, Fred, Margie, Dorothy, and Bub. Mary wasn’t born when this picture was taken she is shown in circle to the left of the photograph. “It took me a couple of moments to remember to breath, and when I did, it was more of a whistle than a breath.” said a Jesuit priest upon his first visit to Villa Marquette seeing the chapel for the first time. The chapel was built in 1941 by John Chester Hallett, (“Chester”), Villa Marquette’s… Read More »

Imagine for a moment you are three year old Margie Hallett in 1942. Imagine you had made the long trip from Detroit with your five brothers and sisters crammed into an old car with your parents. You finally arrive to find when you arrived at the Villa Marquette where your father was to be the new caretaker, that things were not as you had expected. It is the middle of the night you are feeling very tired and cranky, and the cottage you were to call home for the rest of your childhood had at that point no indoor plumbing… Read More »

Omena Fire House before renovations When women get left behind, things happen. Omena’s fire station was built on land donated by the Society of Jesus in 1963 to the Leelanau Township specifically for a fire station. It was big enough for one fire truck and had barely functioning bathrooms. About that time, the men of the village were meeting at the Harbor Bar across the street to play poker, and the wives began to feel left out. They decided to meet at the Fire Station pulling up chairs next to the fire trucks for coffee and euchre while their men… Read More »

It is May Day! In the past Maypole Dances took place in downtown Omena! That’s right, young and old, Native Americans, summer people and locals. They all gathered for refreshments and to weave in and out around a pole in the center of town creating a symbol of the change of seasons. Swedish scholar Carl Wilhelm von Sydow stated that Maypoles were erected simply as “a sign that the happy season of warmth and comfort had returned,” of the return of summer. It’s a custom that’s been going on for over 2,000 years. How does a Maypole get created? The… Read More »

  Once there were many little buildings out behind the cottages in Omena that the children used as secret hideaways. Some of them were used as tool sheds. Some just stood there in case they were needed again. These were once the outhouses of Omena Point. Until the late 1920s all of the cottages had outhouses. Then gas powered pumps became available that could pump lake water to tanks in attics or raised tanks next to houses where gravity would take the cold water to faucets inside. Finally in 1932 electricity had reached Omena Point so water was readily available… Read More »

In 1890 Grierson retired with the rank of Brigadier General of the US Army and in 1896 moved into his cottage on Omena Bay. I imagine after all those years in the dry dusty west, he spent a lot of time on that long dock and high tower looking at the bay. – photo credit Weengush Odeimin General Grierson’s cottage, named “the Garrison” in his time was a magnificent, towered building on the end of Omena Point. (Now called the Rule cottage) Benjamin Greirson was an unlikely hero of the civil war. He was a gangling Scotch-Irishman with dark hair,… Read More »

After the wicked storm this past weekend, seemed like a good time to share the post and pictures from a February 2021 Facebook post. There’s lots of snow in Omena! Here are some photos of it, starting with what it was like long ago to deal with it in Northern Michigan, and followed by photos of the peace and beauty of Omena snow today. Thanks to Shannon Tighe and the Grand Traverse County Road Commission, as well as Northern Michigan Photo Postcards for the photos.