Michigan’s Heritage Park Now Open in Whitehall!

Michigan’s Heritage Park visitors will meet a lumberjack and learn about his work cutting down the white pines.

Visitors can take a 10,000-year journey through Michigan history at Michigan’s Heritage Park, Muskegon County’s newest attraction in Whitehall.

A gentle half-mile trail winds through the park with interactive encounters along the way. Visit a Native American Village and discover wigwams and hear about daily life in the village. At the Fur Trader’s Post, visitors can participate in the trade and learn why beaver pelts were in such high demand.  The life of early Michigan settlers is explored in the Settlers Cabin where visitors may be asked to help with chores such as churning butter.

Michigan sent 90,000 soldiers to fight in the Civil War and visitors will learn about the hardships they faced. At the Lumbering Camp, stretch out on a bunk and learn about the lumberjacks who felled the white pines. Bread may be baking in the oven of the 1900s farmhouse where visitors will learn about the origins of the state’s commercial farming industry. At the Civilian Conservation Corp camp, visitors will learn about the work of the men employed by the CCC related to conservation and development of the area’s natural resources.

Special events will be hosted at the park throughout the season.  A Civil War Encampment with members of the Third Michigan Volunteer Infantry Company F will be held on June 13 and 14.  There will be a Voyageur Family Run on July 18 and a Pontiac Flathead Reunion Car Display on September 12.  French Canadian Heritage Day will be celebrated on October 3 when Genot Picor will use his talents as a storyteller and musician to bring frontier history alive.

The park is a site of the Lakeshore Museum Center which also operates four sites in downtown Muskegon.  The park is handicapped accessible, with a crushed asphalt trail through the woods.  Michigan’s Heritage Park is located in Whitehall at 8637 North Durham Road with easy access from US 31 at exit 128.

The park is open Thursday through Monday from 10 am to 4 pm.  On Sundays, the park will be open from 1 to 4 pm. Admission for adults and teens is $10, seniors (65 and older) $8 and youth (2 – 12) $5. For more information, visit www.lakeshoremuseum.org or call 231-722-0278.