Apple Island Tours - Saturday, May 16 & Sunday, May 17

History Whispers

WHAT: TOURS OF APPLE ISLAND
WHEN: Saturday, May 16 (12-4pm) and Sunday, May 17 (12-3pm), 2009
WHERE: Orchard Lake Museum, at the corner of Orchard Lake and Long Lake roads

This spring’s May 16 and 17 public tours of Apple Island, in the middle of Orchard Lake, offer a real getaway. Visitors will explore the 35-acre island’s natural wonders and ruins of homes, a pump house and a cistern from the 1800s and early1900s, plus encounter a reenactor portraying a 1760s explorer.

The tours, on a first-come, first-served basis, are Saturday, May 16, noon to 4 p.m. and Sunday, May 17, noon to 3 p.m. Island tours are $12 per adult and $6 for children under 12 years old. Tours are free for Greater West Bloomfield Historical Society members, including those who join GWBHS during the weekend.

The island was home to Native Americans since pre-historic times, then privately owned by several families, and in 197l given to the West Bloomfield School District that now uses the island for educational purposes.

Farmington resident Jeff Vallender, who plans to camp on the island, will tell stories from Native American and French explorer cultures. He also will introduce skills and equipment used to survive in the wilderness that was southeastern Michigan during the mid-1760s.

GWBHS members lead the tours, which begin at the Orchard Lake Museum, Orchard Lake Road and Long Lake Road. Activities at the museum, for which there is no charge, include children’s games and demonstrations of spinning and other past ways of life. Food and beverages will be sold as well as toys, books, maps and photographs.

Those going on the tours should allow about 2 to 2-1/2 hours, wear athletic or walking shoes and bring cover-ups because the island is about 10 degrees cooler than the mainland. Strollers are not allowed on the island. Consult www.gwbhs.com or call the museum, 248-682-2279, with questions.