With fanfare aplenty, the Williamsburg community celebrated the town's 150th birthday last weekend with a series of events that illustrated the history of the region.
Planning the sesquicentennial for a year, organizers launched the festivities Saturday afternoon with a historical recitation by Glen Neumann. The Elk Rapids historian and author gave a lengthy and detailed history that sketched of the community from it's founding to the present day. He detailed the happenings that both helped shape the community and illustrated life during its history.
Held at the "Hi" Pray Park with approximately 100 people attending, other historical reflections
discussed the park's namesake and also dedicated it him. Some attendees then played two innings of a softball game, pitching in when the planned teams of Williamsburg alumni did not fill the roster. An evening dinner brought together nearly 100 graduates or family members of the former Williamsburg School.
The Whitewater Township Hall was filled with historic photos and documents throughout the afternoon. The display featured a number of items from the Snider family, including original correspondence dating to the Civil War.
"I've been going through them with a magnifying glass and writing them out in their exact words and typing them out," said Luann Snider, secretary of the Whitewater Township Historical Society, one of two groups that organized the sesquicentennial celebration. "It takes a little while to go through them because you have to figure out what the words are."
The Whitewater Township Historical Society officially organized a year ago with this landmark anniversary in mind. The informal gathering of history buffs realized they needed to make it official to pull of an event of this size and scope.
"We've been meeting once a month since then for about a year now," noted Snider. "It's neat that the community's been so interested."
The Samels Family Heritage Society was the other organizing group for the Williamsburg Sesquicentennial Celebration, hosting a potluck lunch at the Samels Centennial Farm. Situated on Skegemog Point, this 84-acre, old-fashioned farm drew another 100 attendees for the Sunday events, which also included tours of the farmhouse and land as well as music and homemade ice cream.
"I remember working with these guys," said Jim Hockin, of the Samels bachelor brothers: Dennis, Ben and Rob. "They used to have a strawberry social in Williamsburg and had homemade ice cream and the Samels gave two-quart bottles of pure cream. We'd take them and make the ice cream."
Formed in 2002, the Samels Family Heritage Society leases the land from its owner, the nonprofit Archeological Conservancy based in New Mexico. The land contains Native American artifacts dating back hundreds of years, treasures the boys' father, Frank, began collecting after purchasing the property in 1889.
The brothers also invited Michigan State University to conduct an archeological dig on the property during the 1960s.
"Our sesquicentennial is small news to the people who lived here," said Bret Bell, a founding board member of the society, as he led a tour of the property. "A thousand people existed here for 300 years between 800-1200 A.D."
Knowing of developers' intense interest in the land, the surviving Rob and Ben Samels wanted to preserve the land — worth millions — for future generations after they died. They placed the land in a trust in the 1990s.
Continuing the brothers' mission to preserve and protect the farm, the Heritage Society's educational mission includes working with school groups as well as holding community outreach events such as Sunday's gathering.
"We operate the farm museum, preserve the open space for the area and do educational programs," said Bell. "This land hasn't been timbered since the 1890s and the Samels family protected it."