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There’s a lot happening at the historic Peter Dougherty House and Museum, located on Mission Road in the village of Old Mission.
First, if you know of anyone interested in scoring a cool job for the summer, the Peter Dougherty Society is looking for a responsible adult to staff the house from June through August. This person will be responsible for managing the volunteer docents, as well as conducting tours for visitors. Pay is competitive. Contact Chris Rieser, (269) 330-0026 (phone or text), or email [email protected].
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Spring Clean-Up, Road Scholars and Paint Grand Traverse
The Dougherty team has been cleaning up and organizing the house and yards for the summer season. On the schedule this year are ten Road Scholar tours, comprising more than 200 visitors, between June and September.
Also, Paint Grand Traverse will be at the house on June 22. It’s always fun to see the artists out and about around the Old Mission Peninsula for this annual event.
Log Cabin Day will be June 25, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., with the dedication of the new Cole Pavilion that same day at 4 p.m. This annual event celebrates the history of the Old Mission Peninsula, with crafts, historical displays and more at the Dougherty House, Lighthouse Park and the Hessler Log Cabin.
At the Dougherty House, the Garden Committee — including Janet Kidd, Carolyn Taylor, Susan Castleman, Anita Klein and Committee Chair/Master Gardener Connie Sargent — are busy bees. They’ve been cleaning out the demonstration gardens, the hosta bed along the porch and the front beds, and pulling out ten bags’ worth of invasive garlic mustard.
If you have any spare time and would like to help pull garlic mustard, contact Connie Sargent, (231) 223-8866.
Many thanks to Dennis Hansen for using a commercial leaf blower to clean the yard of leaves and branches on Saturday. That day also found Laura Johnson, Greg Buchan, Connie Sargent, Jim McWilliams, David Taylor, Dennis and Barb Hansen cleaning inside and outside the buildings, including the summer kitchen, carriage shed, ice house and outhouse.
Greg Buchan also worked his restoration magic on the carriage shed’s washing machine, cider press, pony cart and furniture in the House parlor.
Displays about the Old Mission Inn (JoAnn Cole), The Pines (Tom Dalluge), and Neahtawanta Inn (Chris Rieser) are in the works, and the Tuesday Crew has built a beautiful cart that will hold historic items for sale to visitors.
Maria Dougherty’s Spinning Wheel Comes Home
And last, but certainly not least, Maria Dougherty’s spinning wheel is now at the house, on loan from the Leelanau Historical Society Museum. Elizabeth Adams, Engagement and Collections Manager at the Museum, brought the spinning wheel out last week. Maria — Peter Dougherty‘s wife – would have used this in the 1840s and 1850s in the Dougherty House before taking it with her when they moved to Omena.
On the wheel, you can still read the words “P. Dougherty, Grand Traverse Bay, Mich,” which would have served as the mailing address.
Chris Rieser, President of the Peter Dougherty Society, and Laura Johnson, Dougherty volunteer and resident spinning wheel expert and collector, were on hand to receive the wheel. Be sure and stop by this summer to see the Dougherty House and this awesome piece of history, now returned to the house where it was first used.
By the way, Elizabeth Adams worked on the archaeological digs around the Dougherty House many years ago, which helped to nurture her love of history into her current job with the Leelanau Historical Society Museum.
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SUPPORT YOUR INDEPENDENT LOCAL NEWSPAPER: I started Old Mission Gazette in 2015 because I felt a calling to provide the Old Mission Peninsula community with local news. After decades of writing for newspapers and magazines like the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Family Circle and Ladies' Home Journal, I really just wanted to write about my own community where I grew up on a cherry farm and raised my own family. So I started my own newspaper.
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