OVPA Blog

One of Hector Carmichael’s boats on Omena Bay circa 1930’s. – Courtesy Omena Historical Society. Once there was rich man, a very rich man, who had a son he dearly loved named Charlie, “Doc” for short. Why “Doc”? Perhaps it was short for “Douglas Carmichael” or perhaps it was because he was in constant need of doctors. Charlie had congenital lung disease for which there were few treatments in 1914. It was a happy accident that Charlies family discovered Omena and its clear cool summer air where Charlie could play and have adventures like a normal boy. In 1920, when… Read More »

Marsha Buehler recalls her uncle, Paul Center, hitching a ride hanging on to the gunwales for quite a distance. He either fell off or let go but had a “pretty good swim back to shore”. This happened in the late 30’s when Vin Moore and his friends had parties in the Mignon boathouse, and the Sutton’s Bay fire engine caper occurred. They were a mischievous bunch! Photo courtesy “Omena, A Place In Time” by Amanda Holmes. Although her name means “small and delicately pretty,” she was “a monstrous boat,” remembered Martha Fisher Klitgaard, the largest yacht ever to have a… Read More »

Omena’s own Santa on a snowy Christmas Eve arriving by Fire Engine. “They came to the little white church on the hill from all around the countryside by cutter and two horse sleighs, bundled up against the cold with lap robes tucked around them. Under the big candle-lit tree were presents for every child, Indian and white.” Before electricity, candles provided the sparkle to the Christmas tree. Did they sometimes catch trees on fire? You bet they did! Luckily, the candle-lit tree never caught the Omena Church on fire, but there were many fires from Christmas tree candles during the… Read More »

Santa arrives Christmas Eve in Omena It was, and still is in Omena, a whole community affair, the coming of Santa on Christmas Eve. Even before the church was built in the early 1850’s, Rev. Dougherty, the Presbyterian missionary, always gave the Indian children a good time on Christmas Eve. They always had a huge Christmas tree at the Mission with hand made gifts for everyone. The girls prepared for Santa’s visit by hanging up the stockings they had knitted in the Mission sewing class. Most of the gifts were hand made until the 1880’s and even after. Skis made… Read More »

Alonzo’s Sled. Photo credit Joey Bensley. When it snows it reminds me of Alonzo’s sled.  Alonzo Craker lived in Omena in the  1860’s, played in the abundant snow with his two little brothers.  He built his own sled, a little bobsled that he could steer,  to go sailing down the hills on.  He only used it a few years however when he was taken sick with Scarlet Fever and died at the age of ten. The little sled hung in the attic all that winter.  So grief stricken was this little family, that no one would even think of using… Read More »

Land Ownership in the Omena Area in 1881. You can see on the map that George Craker and his son Frank owned the most land in the area at the time. Courtesy “Atlas of Leelanau County, Michigan, 1881 by E. L. Hayes, and Omena Historical Society. George was a short man, about five feet and six inches tall, yet he is huge in the history of Omena. His grandson claimed he never wore a necktie, even to church, although there he is, standing alongside his wife in an old photo in the OHS archives, wearing a necktie. His sharp temper… Read More »

Teams of horses would roll it over snowy roads to make the roads possible for horses and sleighs to travel on. Tough job for the horses! How were the roads cleared before snowplows? Before the 1800’s there really was not any effort to get the snow off the roads. To get from one place to another people just put on their snowshoes and made the trek on foot. Then in the 1880’s teams of shovelers did the work, working together. They would actually throw snow onto covered bridges so sleigh travel would not be interrupted. Later teams of horses or… Read More »

Hospitality in the 1800’s depended very much on supply. You could not give what you didn’t have, even if it was Thanksgiving. One of my favorite characters from that time is a woman known only as Mrs. Gay. She was only about 15 or 16 years old, a new bride coming to the wilderness with her new husband and a 14 month old baby but she was very spunky! Mrs. Gay’s house on the Lake Michigan side of Leelanau, had only walls at first, no roof, floors, doors or windows. A lean-to, or open shed with a floor of hewn… Read More »

Harbor Bar in the mid 1950’s after Keith Brown bought it from his stepfather, John Putnam and made some additions. The service bay is visible on the right and the bar on the left. Courtesy Omena Historical Society. Kori Wheeler remembers that on Monday mornings when she was growing up her dad would come out and swim with the kids. He was a perfect diver and taught his children to dive and swim underwater. They laughed at his white legs…. white because he did not have a tan there, he never wore shorts as he worked all the time. For… Read More »

Amos and his Ice Wagon – Courtesy Omena Historical Society. “Please find enclosed one weather-beaten old shoe. The shoe was removed from Bodie (a Ghost Town) during the month of August 1978… My trail of misfortune is so long and depressing it cannot be listed here.” said one person, returning the old shoe. A younger correspondent blames getting grounded by his parents on the ghost town curse. Another child simply writes: “Sorry I took the glass pieces. I thought they were pretty. My fish died the day after.” And then there is this, “So sorry for picking these up. I… Read More »