Our Story

Our Mission

To preserve and interpret the historic buildings, landscapes and stories, and provide heritage experiences for visitor and community enrichment.

Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear raises funds as a philanthropic partner of the national park. With these funds we restore farmhouses, log cabins, barns, inns, windows, orchards and more. We also directly fund needs that the park requests. There are 366 historic structures and landscapes representing the late 1800s and early 1900s. As a nonprofit 501c 3 organization, we rely on donations, grants, corporate sponsors and earned income and in our 25th year celebrated 2 million dollars of value in cash, cash-inkind, inkind and volunteer hours.

“Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear believes that these buildings are critical to maintaining the grace and integrity of a history that has shaped this peninsula for decades. They are rooted to the land and are essential to maintaining the cultural distinction of the region. We are offering Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear as a resource to the Park, to ensure that these magnificent pieces of our history be protected in the best way they can.”

1999 Lissa Edwards, Founding Member and writer for Traverse the Magazine

Our History

By 1999 most of the 366 historic resources in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore were in jeopardy. Standing silently in the shadows of stunning geological features was a vast collection of farms and maritime structures depicting a changing landscape of human history that were not included when the national park was established in 1970. Eventually, the quantity and quality of this large and significant history could no longer be ignored. Buildings were left to molder or were being removed. As plans were revealed that most of these would not be saved, the public and Preserve advocated to save as many as possible.

With no funding for such a large preservation project, the National Park invoked the help of the newly-formed nonprofit Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear.  As a park partner we are dedicated to preserving both the historic buildings and the stories they have to tell.

Together, we’re working with the Park to save these remnants of 18th century agriculture, logging, maritime and tourism activities. They offer a wealth of inspiration, recreation and education for the present and the future. Finding appropriate re-uses for select structures is in our current planning. In 2004 we rehabilitated the Charles & Hattie Olsen farmhouse as our home office and an interpretive visitor center.

Projects and Programs

  • Fundraising
  • Historic Preservation – Volunteer & Contracted Projects
  • Develop exhibits for historic buildings
  • Operate the Port Oneida Heritage Center
  • Landscape Restoration – gardens and mowing
  • Adopt-A-Farm Program
  • Adopt-A-Landscape Program
  • Adaptive-use leasing program
  • Oral history Recording
  • Advocacy for cultural resources in Park plans
  • Interpretive Field Guides
  • Historic auto, biking, hiking and horse and wagon tours
  • Port Oneida Rural Fair – co-founder, fiduciary and Olsen site coordinator
  • Maple Sugar Days
  • Educational programs and classes
  • School farm and outdoor experiences
  • And more to come!

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore was established by an Act of Congress October 21, 1970. In addition to the primary purpose of preserving the natural resources, the legislation required that the Park “…shall prepare and implement a land and water use management plan, which shall include specific provisions for – protection of scenic, scientific, and historic features contributing to public enjoyment.”