Theodore Beck Farm

The farm owned and operated by Theodore Beck rests on the southern edge of the island with beautiful views of Lake Michigan and the Sleeping Bear Dunes on the mainland. Theodore lived here with his wife, Alvina, their five children, as well as his brother, Albert. The family owned six milk cows, nineteen other cattle, four swine, and during the year of 1879 their 25 acres of cultivated land produced butter and crops including barely, oats, rye, wheat, potatoes, and apples. After Theodore died in 1910, Alvina continued to run the farm, but once she died the farm was sold to a developer from Detroit who intended to develop the island as a resort community.

While this never came to be, the farmhouse was still rented out to vacationers until it was sold to the park service around 1970. Today the buildings remaining on the farm are the farmhouse, an unstable shed, and the ruins of both a cottage and a barn. The house is in the best condition of the four buildings, but the windows have no glass and it too is deteriorating quickly.