Luce County Historical Museum
|
| Historic preservationists lost the 1970s fight to save the county’s elaborate courthouse, but managed to keep the elaborate sheriff’s house, now the Luce County Historical Museum. |
The museum of the Luce County Historical Society occupies the 1894 sheriff's house and county jail. It resembles a lumber baron's mansion. Its many stone arches and stained glass windows, its turret, and its rich textures of pressed brick, red sandstone, and shingles all make for a lively composition in the Queen Anne style. The building is worth a visit in its own right. Despite some later wallpaper, it's pretty much intact, with its original parlors, kitchen, dining room, bedrooms – and original jail cells, too. The turret has now been restored, its windows and sills renovated and its roof painted with four layers of gleaming gold paint.
For kids, the museum highlight is the sparsely furnished jail cell, a grim place clad in iron. It's the perfect place for a photo of dad. Other highlights depend on the visitors' interests. There's a lot here and if you ask, you'll get the story behind the objects – or the town. Captioning and interpretating are ongoing, starting with a display of old photos of Newberry.
Some visitors like the details of home life: how the cream separator and the butter churn worked, how irons were heated, how the ice box was drained, what items were in the country store, what toys kids played with, how quilts were made from recycled fabric, how women used collars and buckles to make old dresses look new. Collections are here and there: bottles, fans, a striking hat collection, African artifacts, and Swedish and Indian baskets.
Some rooms have approximate period furnishings. Others are more archival storage areas housing photographs, maps, books, a newly organized obituary file, yearbooks, and scrapbooks, including a special memorial album of area residents.
A very large map locates the important archaeological sites discovered in the 1960s by the late Charles Sprague Taylor and his son near Naomikong Point on Whitefish Bay. They found pottery fragments and points washed up in the bay, and worked with University of Michigan archaeologists to research them. Their finds proved to be one of the most significant sites of the Middle Woodland Period of Upper Great Lakes Culture between 200 B.C. and 800 A.D.
Taylor loved the area's woods and rivers and its history. Being in the forest products business gave him a chance to become quite familiar with the Tahquamenon River watershed. In writing Tahquamenon Country: A Look at Its Past , he drew on the stories of area lumbermen from the early 1900s. If your museum guide is Taylor's widow, Carol Taylor, you can hear the exciting story fof the Taylors' discovery first-hand and gain a knowledgeable perspective on the lumber era, too. She makes available to interested people his archives, including interview transcripts, lumber-era photographs, and the Naomikong discoveries. i
411 W. Harrie St. at Court, 4 blocks west of M-123/Newberry Ave. and a block north of McMillan. (906) 293-3786. Open from mid June into early Sept: Tues, Wed & Thurs 1-4 and by appointment thru fall. Free admission; donations appreciated. Wheelchair ramp: west side.
[Get Directions]
Return to Newberry
POINTS OF INTEREST
Luce County Historical Museum. The museum is in the ornate 1894 sheriff's house and jail. Among the collections of hats and buttons, the old-fashioned kitchen and bedroom displays are maps and a few artifacts from an important archaeological discovery on Whitefish Bay. The jail cell, an ideal photo-op, thrills kids. ... more
Canoeing the Tahquamenon. Rent a canoe at a local livery and take a beautiful, tranquil two-hour trip from the Dollarville Dam to Newberry. There's also good fishing for pike, muskie, walleye, and panfish ... more
Newberry Wi-fi Hotspots. • Public Library has both wi-fi & public computers. 700 Newberry Ave, • Chamber of Commerce has wi-fi. 4947 East County (Twin Lakes) Road 460, south of M-28, just west of where M-28 meets M-123. ... more
Hunt's Map Guide to the Upper Peninsula
• 13 detailed U.P. maps
• Full color, on sturdy, water-resistant paper
• Folds out to 12”x38”
• Only $6.95
To learn more & buy online, click here


