OVPA Blog

Omena School 1910 – Courtesy Omena Historical Society Life was tough for little kids in the 1800’s. And in the winter, it was tougher. The first “school” in Traverse City was a renovated log building that had been used by logging crews during the winters of 1851 and 1852. It was a “rustic” structure located in a wooded and undeveloped area at that time. Sometimes class was interrupted by garter snakes coming up through cracks in the floor. Schools in Omena consisted of Craker School built in 1860, and the Omena School built in 1863. Bass Lake School followed in… Read More »

Bert Russell and his son Dell with customer Furn Charter, one of the first two women to get haircuts at Russell’s Barber Shop. Courtesy: Dell Russell and History of Leelanau County. When Albert Freeland cranked up the Victrola to play after dinner music for the enjoyment of the guests at the Freeland Resort, he wanted to look his best. Besides operating the Victrola, Albert was a “genial host and an excellent conversationalist.” The guests would dress up for dinner in their “afternoon dresses”. Albert would get his beard trimmed at Russell’s Barber Shop. Bert Russell opened his barbershop in Northport… Read More »

Dog sleds on their way to Mackinac. Winter is closing in on Omena. The ice is forming on the bay…and on boats left too long on the water. In the 1850’s they welcomed the ice as it made travel easier. Roads were no more than paths, and after the snow fell became impassable as it got deeper. Travel over the frozen bay was often done, with sometimes disastrous results. From Rev George Smith’s diary, March 2, 1858 “Started 11AM for Traverse City-stopped at Mr. Millers (Omena) an hour, also 1 hour at R. Lee’s …near Mr. Norris’ we broke in… Read More »

Although Omena’s Post Office was established in 1859, it has moved around a lot. Originally it was in the Dougherty manse, where mail was simply left in a pile on the parlor floor. Apparently its distribution was left to anyone who came in. But in 1859 Aaron Page was appointed postmaster. For the next 22 years the post office was in his boarding house above the village. Andrew Anderson and Sidney Keyes took turns doing postmaster duties next, Keyes taking over first in 1881. He constructed a more elaborate individual box system for the mail while it was at his… Read More »

Car trouble on Shab-wah-sung Boulevard in 1922. – Courtesy of Omena Historical Society What becomes of an Omena tradition when a main road changes it’s path? The old Shab-wah-sung road is that road. It once ran around Omena Point on the shore, having been built for horse and buggy traffic. The shore road ran from the village of Omena all the way around the end of the Point to the Ray cottage where it diverted into the woods. In the early days it was used for deliveries, and for bringing people to the hotels from the steamers which brought them… Read More »

Early photo of the main road in Peshawbestown. There are many spellings of this little village. Courtesy Weengush Odeimin “We have a terrible sickness here at this place,” wrote Francis Blackman of Peshawbestown. Writing to the Mackinac Office of Indian Affairs on November 9th, 1881, he went on to say, “most everybody is sick…except two little girls who cannot do much of anything. We need lots of help at this place.” Out of food, barely able to keep enough firewood on hands to keep warm, he was pleading for supplies, “flour, pork, cornmeal and tea.” Smallpox was killing them one… Read More »

Wally’s Omena home, at the corner of Omena Point Road and Lake Street – Courtesy Omena Historical Society There was once a little boy whose parents got divorced, and as sometimes happens, what followed was frequent moves with his mother and little sister from Detroit, to Chicago, to New York, and back to Detroit. Because he was small and thin, he was often targeted by school bullies. Omena Summers He started coming to Omena in the summer as a small child, and came to think of it as his home…where he was from. He had many happy adventures here. Here… Read More »

The Clovers freshly converted from a Trading Post by Sidney Keyes, Postmaster from 1881-1887, and 1894-1898. The Clovers opened in 1898. – Courtesy Omena Historical Society. Isn’t it strange that Omena’s Postmaster changed from Keyes to Anderson to Keyes to Anderson. Why did that happen? Is it because of who was president at the time? Was it a presidential appointment? That is part of the story. But there is more to the story than that. In 1881 when Keyes first became Omena’s Postmaster, James Garfield, a Republican, held the presidency …but he was assassinated a year later. His corrupt and… Read More »

There was a fascination with the idea of German escaped prisoners and spies that might be hiding out on Omena Point during both of the World Wars. Mary Louis Vail remembered a play the cottagers of Ingalls Bay put on back then using a blanket strung between two trees behind the Saxon house for the curtain. Elizabeth and Betty Saxon played the leading roles in the spy thriller which took place, of course, on Omena Point. However all that Mary Louis remembered about this play is one line: the heroine is strolling down a path through the woods when she… Read More »

Maude the train – Courtesy of Omena Historical Society. There were two Maude’s in early Leelanau Township. One was a train. This early train was slow, dusty, and FRIENDLY. It stopped if someone along the way needed help. It would back up if you forgot something. If a person could not get to the depot, the train would stop anywhere along the line where a passenger was waiting. Several times the train spotted a fire along the way and blew and blew its whistle to alert people. During the thirties and forties, the train, with its old locomotive, was affectionately… Read More »