OVPA Blog

Logging the Tatch farm, which must have been what Samuel’s land looked like as it was being logged. Logging is dangerous work! Photo credit Omena Historical Society Poor Samuel Doe met with an untimely end here in Omena. Arriving in Omena in 1875 with his wife Laura (Sparrow) Doe. He opened a small store a little east of where Lavender Lane is now. Soon after that he bought land on what is now Tatch Road, next to his old friend and previous sailing companion Rufus Tatch. In 1880, just five years after arriving in Omena, Samuel was clearing his land… Read More »

Versey sits in the midst of some of his summer friends. Standing on the left is Charlie “Doc” Carmichael, with Vin Moore standing on the right. Seated to Versey’s left are Fritz Vogt, Waldo Abbot, Ted Wohnegemuth, and Stan Moore. The others are unknown. – Courtesy of Omena Historical Society Versey Legg was a cheerful, rotund man who seemed to know and be known by everybody in Omena. According to Vin Moore, standing on the right in the photo above, Versey loved to play the piano while Vin’s father sang on Saturday and Sunday afternoons in the summer. They did… Read More »

In the 1920s, the women’s suffrage movement was picking up momentum after almost 100 years of struggle. Activists for women’s suffrage campaigned in ways that were considered “unladylike,” such as marching in parades and giving street corner speeches. When Hazel Taylor was an old woman, she remembered vividly one occasion from her early years when she and her new husband Edward, dressed for a festive evening, were riding to an event and he suddenly stopped the car and leaped out to catch a small snake on the road, which he promptly shoved into a pocket of his white jacket. “Was… Read More »

Omena in the 1920’s. Photo Credit Omena Historical Society When my two boys were growing up in Northport in the late 70’s, the theme song of the Dukes of Hazzard, the long running well loved TV show, was the background music for our lives. My boys idolized Bo and Luke Duke and their customized 1969 Dodge Charger named General Lee which they leaped into to evade the corrupt law officers Boss Hogg and Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane. Bo and Luke Duke, who lived in a rural area too, were on probation for moonshine running. Perhaps that is why the stories… Read More »

Seddie Powers was a young single Victorian lady and taught at the Onominese School. She took over for Ann Morgan in the summer of 1868. The school was in Onomonee Village (west of Northport on Lake Michigan), and she instructed the native children in the village. Seddie did not last very long, only a few months. She wrote a melancholy poem about the sound of the waves and the isolation she felt there (under her pen name of Faustine). She left on Oct 2nd of that year and Mr. Ranger took over on Oct 13th. “I watch the dawn and… Read More »

Morgan Landing, the train station near Ahgosatown. This photo is credited to Betty Craker Armstrong and is courtesy “Omena, A Place in Time” and the Omena Historical Society Ann Morgan must have thought things could not get any worse. First Frankie, her 9-year-old son died, scarlet fever it was. Then word came that her husband Jesse was dead from a service-related illness, his body in Little Rock, Arkansas, impossibly far away in those days. She could not even bury him next to little Frankie in the Mission Church Cemetery Mission School Closed But then due to circumstances beyond his control,… Read More »

This is John and Bills house with the sawmill on the left where they made their fish boxes and cherry lugs. Beyond the house is a garage, ice house, and dock shed. The Eclipse is alongside the dock, ready to make another run out into Grand Traverse Bay. Every so often while the two of us were building our cottage in the 1970’s from an old barn, an old man would come up the hill and sit on a stump or a pile of wood and quietly watch. After a few years, when we were putting on the barn wood… Read More »

Traverse Bay Line – Photo Courtesy of Steven Kelsch, Grand Traverse Bay, USA, Then and Now There are so many boats out on Omena Bay this summer. Everyone wants to be out on the water it seems. In years past, people also wanted to be out on the water, but few had boats. Instead, they crowded aboard ships like the MANISTIQUE, MARQUETTE, AND NORTHERN NO1, the Northport car ferry docked here at Omena’s Anderson Dock. This was a special charter, passengers only, and plenty of people showed up. The men enjoying their watermelon below are not crew members but migrants,… Read More »

The circa 1940 ice cream fountain Once upon a time Anderson’s Ice cream fountain was the place to go in the summertime. Today that spot is our Post office, and also is where everyone goes just about every day. But back when it was an Ice Cream Parlor, there were marble topped tables with twisted iron legs and chairs to match. The soda bar was topped with marble and faced with oak. Every dish had a special use, and each topping was clearly displayed for all to see. The tall flaring soda glasses were in metal containers with handles. Silver… Read More »

Man-E-Do-Wah-Ba was the last medicine man to live in Leelanau County. Photo Credit: Leelanau Historical Society He was remembered as being a person of more than ordinary ability and a lot of good common sense and practical knowledge. He was respected and revered by the Indians in Ahgosatown and was a welcomed guest among his white neighbors. And he was also a favorite with children as he joked with them and told stories and Indian legends. Man-E-Do-Wah-Ba was the last medicine man to live in Leelanau County and he had one weakness. And this is where the story gets interesting…. Read More »