Five Facts About the Port Oneida Rural Historic District Development

1. The Park was founded by an act of Congress in 1970 and shortly
thereafter the first attempt at an inventory of buildings in the Port
Oneida area was done. The first official survey of historic buildings
was completed in 1988.

2. Several position papers (the first as early as 1980) were written on
what to do with historic buildings in Port Oneida . The Port Oneida
Historic District covers over 3400 acres and has over 120 buildings so
restoration will take a while, especially if one considers the other areas
of the Lakeshore with historic buildings.

3. Today there are two Park Partners occupying historic buildings in Port
Oneida: Glen Arbor Art Association at the Thoreson Farm and Preserve Historic
Sleeping Bear at the Charles Olsen Farm. The Partners have Special Use Permits with the Lakeshore to occupy and contribute to the utilities and up-keep of the buildings. An occupied building will typically last longer than a vacant one.

4. All the restored Port Oneida buildings were brought up to code and
occupied because of work done by Park employees, partners, and other
volunteers. Costs were paid with funds from NPS, the partners, and grants.
The same is true of the buildings that have been stabilized to halt their
deterioration.

5. Port Oneida was nominated by the NPS for National Register of Historic
Places as early as 1986. In 1991 a new edited draft was prepared. By 1997
the Port Oneida Rural Historic District of Sleeping Bear Dunes National
Lakeshore had been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. This
gave the Port Oneida area more status and therefore allowed it to better
compete for historic preservation funding. Shortly thereafter, public
pressure helped to draw attention to the need to apply for this funding,
and the Park began to do so. In addition, in 1997 Sleeping Bear Dunes
National Lakeshore was allowed by an act of Congress to charge a fee and
keep 80% of the funds for projects in the Lakeshore. This did not mean that
the Lakeshore was awash in money but it did ease the situation and has
allowed for even more funding of building preservation.

Anyone who would like to read early National Park plans for the Port Oneida
Rural Historic District might find the following works of interest:

Available from the Empire Visitor Center Book Store:
Farming at the Waters Edge (published in 1995 by the National Park
Service) This work has maps, photos, and tons of information about
the Port Oneida Farms.

A Garden Apart ( published in 1994 by the National Park Service and
the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office)

Available from the web site of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore:
www.nps.gov/slbe
The briefing paper for Historic Properties Management Plan (published March 20, 1998).

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Business Plan (published in 2005 based on fiscal year 2003)

Watch next summer 2006 for an article in the Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes
newsletter “Drifting Sands” exploring further the development of the Port Oneida Rural Historic district in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.