The historic Leelanau County Poor Farm is getting its due on WCMU Public Television today and Saturday as “Saving the Barn: The Leelanau County Poor Farm,” a locally produced documentary on the history, preservation and future of the Leelanau Count Poor Farm/ County Infirmary is released.
The film is a multi-year project of the Leelanau County Historic Preservation Society (LCHPS). Air times include today at 5 a.m. and Saturday, March 23 at 10:30 a.m.
“I’m delighted, it’s an important educational piece about Leelanau County,” said Joe Vandermulen, the documentary filmmaker. “(This film) helps inform people about the whole state’s (poor farm system including Leelanau County) ... how it helped people in need.”
VandeMeulen said in a press release that the film brings to life a little-known part of Leelanau County’s history, “a history shared by nearly every other county in Michigan. The film combines interviews with expert historians and the childhood memories of the elders with images and artifacts from the last century to recreate the Leelanau County Poor Farm. Beginning around 1901 and for many decades thereafter, the Poor Farm provided compassionate care and rehabilitation to people in need from throughout the County.”
Leelanau county was one of the last counties to get a poor farm and was one of the last operating as well from roughly 1901 to 1960.
“Twenty different people are featured in the short film, it’s only 30 minutes,” Vander-Meulen said.
The film is narrated by local storyteller and musician, Norm Wheeler. The film features over 20 people including historical reenactor Susan Odom and the massive draft horses of Fantail Farms.
The Leelanau County Poor Farm still stands thanks to the Leelanau County Historic Preservation Society (LCHPS). In 2018, the Leelanau County government was mulling the idea of tearing the Poor Farm Barn down and using it as an opportune fire fighting exercise, which sparked the creation of LCHPS to save it.
Educator and barn preservation expert, Steve Stier, shows viewers the unusual architecture of the 100-year-old Poor Farm Barn and how it was used.
“This is a historically significant artifact from a time when all farming was done by hand,” he said in a press release.
The film includes childhood memories of farm operations by descendants of the Poor Farm manager, called the Keeper. Now in his 90s, Duane Newman describes his role in helping with the planting and harvesting at the Poor Farm as a teenager.
Project leaders for LCHPS include local historian and founding board member, Barbara Siepker and Tina Mehren, who secured $20,000 in funding, including a grant from Rotary Charities of Traverse City and a matching grant from Michigan Humanities. From a wide array of historical photographs, images of historical artifacts, and interviews, they hope viewers imagine and connect to the farming practices and public care for the vulnerable in society of 100 years ago.
Mehren stated, “We feel so fortunate to have had (VanderMeulen’s) involvement. As a longtime county resident and historical advocate, he understood how to capture detailed, cinematic views of the architecturally significant barn and enhanced cinematic representations of activities on the old farm. From gardening to canning to working in the fields with a team of horses, the film truly transports the viewer. Thanks to the preservation efforts of LCHPS, this familiar and renowned building is now a lasting relic of a bygone era of cooperative welfare in the United States.”
LCHPS hopes this short documentary will be a lasting educational contribution to the local historical record and will further facilitate discussions and support the decision-making of community stakeholders who are coming together under the County Park Commission to plan for the future use of the site.
LCHPS will provide a big screen viewing of this film on Sunday, August 4, 2024, at The Bay Theatre in Suttons Bay. Details of that event will be forthcoming.
Here is a link to the film: https://vimeo.com/904589287/1a f797215e?share=copy.
