Oral History Sheds Light on the Past

Bufka Presentation

When the park came into being in 1970, solicitors knocked on doors of private homes armed with purchase offers of fair market value. While owners that homesteaded their property by 1965 had the option to retain their property, many tell of feeling forced to sell. Norbert Bufka grew up
on his family’s farm in Good Harbor, now owned by the national park. Norbert has embraced every opportunity to tell the story of his family farm and has authored books about Bohemian and Good Harbor history.

This summer he shared his family’s history at the farm in two oral history sessions. The small group of Bufka family members, TART Trails, and invited guests gathered around he and his wife Sue, who traveled from Midland to be with us. Park Superintendent Scott Tucker attended one of the sessions. Having been just a young boy when the Bufkas sold to the park, he asked Norbert, “After over 100 years of family history on this piece of ground what was your reaction to someone knocking on your door asking or telling you to sell the property”?

Norbert replied, “There was great opposition to the sale [from his family] and I was very much involved with that. We fought it for years. I didn’t live here at the time. I hadmoved away in 1956 except for a few summers. But I love the place and since we don’t own it anymore I want it to be
available to as many people as possible to see what happened here, tell the story somehow.” A follow-up question asked how he reconciled being opposed to the sale of the farm, to being able to sit and share his history.

Nobert replied, “For me it was a gradual transition, but basically – the farm is sold, we’re never going to own it again. Get over it, I’m telling myself that. And that’s why I think it’s a great honor to our grandparents and parents to have this preserved and verified and the story told. I believe that. I’ll give you a little philosophy. Native Americans could not understand private ownership of property. It all belonged to everybody. And the general history of the world is that Mother Earth we say, is the source of life. We don’t own this. We had custody of it for a while. That’s all. That’s my philosophy.” And that, for some of us was a moving moment in awe of a humble heart.