For over 100 years, hearty women, farmers, fishermen, and their families, shaped this extraordinary place in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Their stories and the hundreds of historic structures associated with their lives have benefitted from the support of Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear.

Given the size and significance of this historic landscape it is a historic park within the park, and is one of the Lakeshore’s most nationally significant features. Here, visitors learn from and find respite in the quiet landscape of historic properties tucked along trails waiting for discovery.

As this year draws to a close, we reflect on what truly endures — the places, stories, and traditions that shape who we are as a people. Across America, rural cultural landscapes hold a quiet but powerful place in our national identity. They are the farmsteads that fed generations, the fields shaped by hand and hope, the barns and schoolhouses where communities gathered, and the natural corridors that still carry the imprint of lives lived close to the land.

Your support helps us to protect and restore historic sites, preserve rural character, and ensure that families, students, and visitors can experience authentic heritage firsthand. When you invest in preservation, you are investing in something transformative:

  • Sustain traditions of craftsmanship, agriculture, and community
  • Protect irreplaceable historic buildings and working landscapes
  • Create educational experiences that teach the next generation where their roots come from
  • Safeguard the scenic beauty and cultural continuity that define Amearica’s rural places

Most importantly, your generosity ensures that these landscapes are not static artifacts— but living places teeming with history and opportunities where people can walk, learn, gather, volunteer, and feel connected to something larger than themselves.

With your help, people connect through our horse and wagon tours, bike tours, exhibits, oral history archives, hiking historic districts, or attending  a heritage-related event. Others connect by service—volunteering on our project and program teams.

Looking to the future, we are excited about the enormous potential: expanded programs that connect youth with hands-on heritage learning; new connector paths that knit together historic farms; community events that honor rural traditions; and preservation projects that keep our shared history alive.

We invite you to be part of making an impact by making a meaningful year-end gift that will tell this part of America’s story and inspire all who experience it. Click here to make a gift.

With deep gratitude,

Susan Pocklington
Executive Director
Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear