Port Oneida's days as a thriving farming, lumbering, and port community may be far behind it, but you can still visit this northern Michigan ghost town today and listen closely to the wind whispering through the trees to learn a little about the region's agricultural history and culture.
We first photographed the Port Oneida Rural Historic District, which is now part of the Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore, in early 2009. The district covers more than 3,400 acres has over 120 buildings, many of them in various states of repair or restoration.
Our self-guided tour that winter day took us through the more accessible portions of the historic district, and the absence of leaves on the trees made for some interesting, and somewhat spooky shots, of an abandoned farm that the Weaver family called home from the late 1800s until around the end of the Great Depression in the 1930s.
Read my story, Port Oneida Rural Historic District celebrates northern Michigan's agricultural heritage and my accompanying Photo Friday feature to learn more about our wintertime visit to Port Oneida, read a bit about the town's history, and see some of my Weaver Farm photos.
We visited Port Oneida again this summer. The little community still exudes some of the same sense of ghostly slumber we felt during the winter, although absence of winter snow meant we could explore more of the seasonal roads and farms tucked away from the main roads.
Even as the summer sun shone brightly overhead, the whitewashed exteriors of many of the buildings still gave them a ghostly air, even as the occasional splash of color lent a hint of life to the scene.
We occasionally spotted park service staff doing repair or restoration work. The mix of vintage and new materials in some buildings demonstrated the park's work to keep as much of the original buildings as possible, even if it meant reconstructing a whole new building or facade around an element like an original door and latch.
The Eckhert Farm, with its red facade and cellar entrance, played host to many community dances during the late 1800s, and the Eckherts grew corn, potatoes, and grain.
I particularly enjoyed visiting the Ole Olsen Farm, which sits across the road from the Eckhert farm. The Olsen family's main crops were wheat and potatoes, and one of the last Olsens to live in this house, with its green trim and tin roof, stayed there until the mid-1990s. I found myself alone on the front porch, where I sat a while and listened to the silence, punctuated by nothing more than the occasional chirp of a bird of buzz of an insect.
This time we were also able to walk into the North Unity School, a vintage 1870s cabin that once served as the community's one-room school. The school is near Narada Lake, although we didn't walk down to the lake because it was loon nesting season when we visited.
We checked back with the Weaver Farm, although the thick summer vegetation and leaves on the trees made it difficult to spot from the road. The thick summer vegetation also meant the mosquitoes were visiting at the same time!
The Weaver Farm appears to be one instance where the park service is letting nature take its course as the building appeared even more dilapidated that it did in early 2009. Portions of a door and wall that I remember as being somewhat intact earlier are missing now, and I wonder what, if anything, will be left of the house when we next visit Port Oneida.
Want to learn more about Port Oneida's history? Check out Farming at the Water's Edge by Marla McEnaney.
© Dominique King 2010 All rights reserved
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