It’s not much of a home by today’s standards, but the small cabin at D.H. Day Campground in Glen Haven came at the right price. It was donated to the state - along with 32 acres of land that has been touted through the years as Michigan’s first state park - by D. H. Day in 1920.

The historic log cabin at D.H. Day Campground is getting a new roof, courtesy of the National Park Service

George Weeks, syndicated news columnist and noted historian of the Glen Arbor area, said the cabin has not enjoyed the attention of Day’s other contributions. Day at one time owned 5,000 acres in southern Leelanau County including the then-bustling village of Glen Haven, ran a farmstead with more than 5,000 cherry and apple trees and three distinctive silos that still stand, two steamships, and was an early leader in recognizing the potential for tourism in northern Michigan once a solid network of roads was built.

Day was also active in conservation, and was named in 1919 to chair the first Michigan State Park Commission. That was about the same time he donated the 32-acre site of the present campground — and log cabin — to the state.

In the 1970’s, the state conveyed the campground and Sleeping Bear Dunes area to the National Park Service for inclusion in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

The Day campground has been referred to many times as the first state park in Michigan, a title that actually belongs elsewhere, Weeks said. The Michilimackinac State Park at Mackinaw City was acquired in 1909. The Interlochen State Park in Grand Traverse County was acquired by the state in 1917 to save a stand of virgin pine. Both purchases are mentioned in Weeks’ book, Sleeping Bear, Yesterday and Today.

Perhaps some of the misguided credit can be traced to a sign arching over the entrance to the park stating “Michigan State Park No. 1.” Weeks has a postcard showing the sign.

And there is some validity to the statement as the present D.H. Day Campground was the first park recognized by the State Park Commission.

Weeks said he had much less information about the cabin that went with the park.
According to Dave Taghon, another area historian, Day tried to get his wife, Eva, to move to one of several homes owned by the family. But Eva preferred to live in the apartment above the Glen Haven General Store.

The Days apparently never lived in the log cabin near the shores of Lake Michigan.

The cabin is now used for interpretive programs by National Park Service rangers, as a safe haven for campers on rainy days, and for other activities. It’s described as a historical landmark in a plaque proclaiming contributions made by Day.

The Park Service is now in the process of restoring the cabin’s roof.