Baker Farm

Thomas Kelderhouse purchased 180 acres of shoreline wilderness north of the region’s first white settler, Carsten Burfiend, in 1864. The original home on the property, a plank house, was probably built by Kelderhouse’s son, Minor Kelderhouse. A plank house is framed like a barn, then sided with vertical planks. During remodeling projects, the current owner, Jack Barratt, has found 27-wide hemlock boards in the walls. The boards were dadoed (chiseled) out at top and bottom to fit around the beams they were nailed to.

In 1909 a young farmer from Illinois named Fred Baker found his way to Leelanau County and surveyed the country for prospective farms. Eventually he made his way up along Lake Michigan to where Mr. Kelderhouse had such a beautiful field of wheat…Now, if this place was for sale, Mr. Baker said, I’d be interested.

Baker approached Minor Kelderhouse about selling his farm. He found him to be a square person, but you know, he was one of those people that, on the change of the moon, he just went berserk. Mr. Kelderhouse told Fred Baker of many troubles as he showed him the farm and discussed a sale.

Some time later Baker was back looking for Kelderhouse, and found a cat that had been hanged from a fence. Looking further, he found the farmer hanging from a beam in his barn. Apparently he had arranged to sell the farm in order to provide for his wife and twin daughters. In 1910, the 24 year-old Fred Baker took possession of the farm.

Baker later described the house as, just a shanty. Horse manure needed to be packed around the foundation each winter for insulation. It has since been modernized and expanded many times, and a new house has been added on the property south of the original house.

The barn was originally located close to where Port Oneida Road now runs. (At the time, the road ran along the bluff; that’s why the Baker/Barratt and Burfiend houses face that way.) Within a few years Fred Baker moved the barn to its present location closer to the house, and added on to it.

During following years a Christian Scientist group began coming to the Baker Farm to camp during summers. Tents for the girls were set up in the yard. The Bakers would move into a garage/workshop building for the summer, and rent their house to the camp for staff housing and kitchen facilities. A nearby long house was built for camp activities.

The camp bought all the potatoes the Baker Farm could produce, as well as dairy products and other produce. In 1927 Fred Baker started keeping horses for the girls to ride for $1/hour. Eventually the Camp purchased the northern portion of the property and constructed their own facilities. However, the Bakers continued their close relationship, providing riding horses and produce. Fred and Grace Baker’s daughter Lucille became the primary riding instructor, and continued spending summers that way for 40 years. Lucille and her husband Jack eventually took over the farm operation.

The Barratt family continues to occupy this privately-owned farm.