This begins the wrap-up of a series adapted from the book, “A Port Oneida Collection,” Volume 1 of the two-part set, “Oral History, Photographs, and Maps from the Sleeping Bear Region,” produced by Tom Van Zoeren in partnership with Sleeping Bear Forever (formerly Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear). Here we consider various aspects of the project, as discussed in the introduction to the book:
I was stationed to work as a park ranger at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore from 1984 — 2005. During that time I was lucky to have the chance to get to know most of the people then still living around Port Oneida. I started taping some of their recollections and copying their old photos in 1991, when Laura Basch happily filled 14 hours of tape. Since that time many others have shared information, stories, photos, documents, and whatever else might serve to give the rest of us some idea of how their community worked.
I don’t know that Port Oneida was so exceptional that it needs to be thoroughly documented — though it was an interesting community, and remains a charming place. Its Historic District nomination tells us, “Port Oneida Rural Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places... as a rural landscape reflecting the settlement patterns of northern European immigrants in the Upper Great Lakes region. The district derives its significance from its ability to convey the land use patterns resulting from subsistence agriculture . . .” It is said to be the most complete, intact historic agricultural landscape in public ownership in the United States.
Ironically, it’s the fact that this wasn’t really very good farmland that resulted in Port Oneida coming down to us as a good example of an early-1900’s farm community — without many modern intrusions on the landscape. Farming was a marginal endeavor, so there wasn’t a lot of money for new buildings.
Surely, any place you really looked, you’d find interesting people, could explore what made them tick, and might consider how they fitted together to make a community. It just seemed like since we’re going to preserve Port Oneida, it would be good to document it as best we can. That way, as we enjoy this lovely preserved place, we can satisfy the very human urge to imagine the people who lived their lives here.
Future historians can scrutinize census records, land deeds, and the rest of the permanent record; but for getting firsthand accounts and the stories that have been passed down, it was now or never. Family photo collections also tend to become dispersed and lost as time goes by.
Surely there always is value in learning about those who preceded us, and about other people with other viewpoints, helping us put our own assumptions and beliefs into perspective. Hopefully, this preserved landscape, together with the information we have about its inhabitants, will widen the perspectives of those of us from modern times who come to visit and imagine in old Port Oneida.
No oral historian can vouch for the accuracy of everything he collects. We can only record what people tell us—factual accounts, not-so factual accounts, stories . . . Then, with everything available—historical data, the physical landscape, the preserved places, and the collected information, stories & images — we might come to have a pretty good resource, for historians and the rest of us alike, to grasp the place—a rich example of human community. People who visit and study the farms of Port Oneida can then ponder and speculate for themselves about how things truly were — kind of like how we do every day in life.
To be continued
