Cultural Landscapes Abound
at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

The "Cultural Landscape" at Port Oneida
offers our visitors a glimpse of the the rich history of the Sleeping Bear Dunes area.

During recent years, there has been a movement toward increased awareness and appreciation of America's cultural landscapes. Since the 1980's, the National Park Service has been a leading organization in this movement, and has begun to consider new management techniques for many of its properties where human interaction with the land has been especially significant.

The use of land for agriculture, natural resources extraction, and recreation - all of which occurred prior to the establishment of the Lakeshore - has left indelible imprints on the landscape. The task of identifying the cultural traces that are significant and worthy of preservation and interpretation is a challenge for park managers. Determining the most appropriate management goals for historic landscapes in the park is a complicated task that often involves making comparisons between two distinct resource management views. It involves integrating decision-making efforts in order to preserve both natural and cultural landscape resources. To help park staff deal with these issues, three reports have been completed concerning the agricultural resources in the park, with the fourth to be completed in 1998.

These three important reports are:

A Garden Apart: An Agricultural and Settlement History of Michigan's Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Region

Farming at the Water's Edge: An Assessment of Agricultural and Cultural Landscape Resources in the Port Oneida Rural Historic District at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Michigan

Coming Through With Rye: An Historic Agricultural Landscape Study of South Manitou Island at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Michigan

The fourth and final report will be published in 1998 and will address the agricultural resources on North Manitou Island. These reports are available at the Visitor Center and at the Cottage Book Shop in Glen Arbor, MI.

The publication of the reports has helped place the Port Oneida Rural Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places in June of 1997. Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is also to writing a management plan for these resources in which the public is invited to participate. All interested individuals should contact the Park Historical Architect, Kimberly Mann, at Park Headquarters, (616) 326-5134 to find out more information and to have your name added to the list.

During your visit please pick up one or all of these reports and venture out into these cultural landscapes to enjoy the structures, vegetation, and land features that remain from this time in Sleeping Bear Dunes history.