Historic Putnam-Cloud Tower House now hosting tours and presentations

How far did volunteers go in finding the right materials to restore the Putnam-Cloud Tower House in Omena?

Physically, not much further than Traverse City, but in terms of effort and attention to detail, it might have felt like to the moon and back.

The Omena Historical Society last fall completed the restoration of the historic house, which has been open for tours and presentations since January. With summer and its influx of seasonal residents and visitors coming, however, the society is preparing the first in series of programs to show off its new headquarters.

Nana Kennedy and Joan Bensley

Joan Bensley, president of the Omena Historical Society, said the group is finalizing plans for a exhibit of works by artist Emily Nash-Smith, a long-time resident of the Northport-Omena area.

Tom VanPelt is Nash-Smith’s grandson and he has 150 of her paintings at his home on Overlook Road.

“Grandma was a fairly well-known artist. She did a one-person show in Paris in the 1930s,” he said. Nash-Smith worked in many genres, including still-life, abstract, oil-based and watercolor paints. VanPelt said he got to know his grandmother very well once she moved to the Northport area in the 1970s.

The historical society would like to have about 60 of Nash-Smith’s paintings as part of the exhibit. Bensley said the date for the inaugural painting exhibit at the Putnam-Cloud house was to be decided this week, but would most likely be sometime in June or July.

As to other events or programs, member Nana Kennedy and Bensley said the group is considering different ideas. “We are looking at different programs, historical and education. Everything is sort of in the works,” Bensley said. One idea they are giving serious consideration to is having a display on steamships. Steamers were the main mode of transportation to Omena in the late 1880s and early 1900s when the tiny hamlet boasted no less than seven hotels.

Putnam-Cloud House

The historic house was built in 1876 by Rinaldo Putnam and his wife Mary Donovan-Putnam. They arrived at Omena in 1871 from Canada to try their hand at farming. They bought land about a mile south of Omena from Gen. George Armstrong Custer, one of three Civil War-era generals from the Union Army who owned land in and around Omena.

In 1893, Frank and Julia Cloud purchased the house and surrounding property from the Putnam family. They expanded the farm house into more of a mansion. They built a two-story addition to the original structure, added a small room off the kitchen and a wrap-around front porch. The Cloud family called their Omena cottage “Tower House,” since they had also had a low, broad tower added to the structure.

Charles Cloud, an official with the Society of Jesus, inherited the house when his mother Julia passed away. In 1936, he donated the house and the 131 acres that surrounded it to the society. The Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus utilized the property as a summer retreat for society members, renaming the property Villa Marquette and using the Putnam-Cloud house for decades as a place to hold services and as a guest home for visiting Jesuits.

While the property is still in use as a retreat, it fell into disrepair and was in danger of being demolished before Omena residents answered a rallying call to help to save the house. The Jesuits agreed to donate the house to the Omena Historical Society and in June 2004, the society moved the 118-year old structure about a mile north of the Villa property to a parcel of land next to the Tamarack Gallery. The Omena Village Preservation Association is leasing the parcel to the historical society for $1 a year for 40 years.

Bensley said the project, which took more than two years, was the result of many hours of hard work and generous donations. “Whenever possible, original wood from the Putnam and Cloud periods were used in restoring the house,” she said. Over 4,000 hours of work has been provided by volunteers in restoring the house. Contractors and suppliers provided services and supplies, saving the group about $20,000 in costs. The overall cost of the project is $210,000, which is covered by donations, grants and fundraisers.

As much as possible, the original doors and windows were restored and used in the building. When volunteers needed bricks to restore the fireplace, fortune smiled on them. The same kind of bricks used in the upgrade of Building 50 at the Traverse City State Hospital were utilized.

“One of the contractors who was working on the house was talking about needing bricks to restore the fireplace with a friend who was working on the revitalization of Building 50 at the same time,” Bensley said. It turns out that the bricks for both the fireplace and Building 50 were made by the Markham Brick Yard in Greilickville, located near where the current Pathfinder School exists.

There were piles of the bricks laying around during the Building 50 renovation, and the historical society was able to secure as many as they needed to restore the fireplace.

The society has 15 trained volunteer docents to answer visitors’ questions or guide them on a tour of the facility. The main floor includes a room showing the history of the house and how it came to be the historical society’s headquarters. In the back room a surrey that was used to transport visitors from the Omena harbor up to the Sunset Lodge is on display. The second floor includes a library room, the society’s office and a private research room.

The Putnam-Cloud House is open on Thursdays and Saturdays from 1-4 p.m., or a tour may be arranged by calling 386-7539.