Life was primitive along the Old Sauk Trail between 1650 and 1750. And several reenactors will be in Edwardsburg on Sat., Sept. 27, to recreate and demonstrate that with objects made, used, and traded along the historic wilderness route.

The Sauk Trail Festival: Echoes of Our Past is two weeks away and people who visit the Edwardsburg Area Historical Museum between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. that day can witness and learn many things firsthand, including construction techniques that were used to build houses.

For example, Neil Hassinger of Edwardsburg will have a mockup of two walls, showing home building techniques from the 1700s, using tools like hewing axes and giant chisels for chinking.

 Visitors also can see Lynn Christensen of Edwardsburg as a French woodworker, who makes spoons with shaving horses and drawknives, and refines ax and shovel handles or handles for scythes.

As people move amongst the booths and awnings in the museum’s backyard on Main Street, they may encounter reenactors like Mark Thomas of South Bend. Dressed as a French Voyageur from the 1600s, he will display a small version of the voyageur canoe. A large 35-foot voyageur canoe will be located along Pleasant Lake at Gunn Park where naturalists from the Sarett Nature Center of Benton Harbor will give people free rides to experience what water travel was like hundreds of years ago. Thomas can explain more about the canoe and display the types of goods that were traded…furs, and beads and blankets among them.

French soldiers occupied Fort St. Joseph in Niles at that time, actively trading in the wilderness with the Native Americans, as Western Michigan University History Instructor Erika Hartley will explain.

Hartley is the curatorial fellow, Niles History Center, and director of the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project that is ongoing each summer in Niles through WMU. Fort St. Joseph, she will relate, was a mission, garrison, and trading post complex occupied during the 1700s. By establishing the fort, the French aimed to secure the interior of the North American continent and increase commercial activity in the fur trade, she said.

Hartley will speak in the afternoon on the museum’s back deck on “Fort St. Joseph and Fur Trade.” (The 20-year-old deck was renovated especially for the festival with a grant from the Historical Society of Michigan, part of the America 250MI project, which focuses on celebrating Michigan’s participation in the nation’s upcoming 250^th birthday in 2026.)

Hartley will give brief overview of trade between the fort’s soldiers and the Native Americans, display artifacts recovered along the St. Joseph River in Niles and explain informational panels.

Depicting a French soldier, Joe Zdziebko of Osceola will explain from his booth how the fur trade benefited everyone. It was important, he said, for the French and Native Americans to remain allies, and he will explain the importance of trading deer skins, and coyote and beaver furs, which he will have on hand.  His display also will include coins that were traded, along with Wampum belts made from oyster or clam shells that held messages from the Native American tribes.  

Dennis Kuemin of Niles has been a blacksmith reenactor for 20 years, basically learning the trade on his own. Attendees can see him use a forge, an anvil, tongs and hammers to make hooks for pots over a fire, as well as Frederick’s crosses. And if someone wants him to make something special for a fee that day, he says, he will do his best to accommodate them.

Stephanie McCune-Bell, the director of education at The History Museum in South Bend, will demonstrate the particulars of beeswax candle making.

Additionally, Potawatomi Historian Cecil Wilson, will give two presentations on the history of the Potawatomi Nation. Highlighting the day will be performances by four dancers and four drummers in native regalia from the Pokagon Band of the Potawatomi Nation.

An archaeological dig will be set up for children. Food will be available for purchase. The daily schedule is expected to be finalized this weekend. There is no admission charge.

The museum is located at 26818 W. Main St. (U.S. 12), Edwardsburg.

(Photo of Lynn Christensen by Meryl Christensen; Photo of Voyager canoe by Lynn Christensen. Logo is from the America250MI project which funded the museum’s deck renovation).

“From There to Here: How You Can Do Anything After Retirement” is the presentation theme of Edwardsburg Author Jim Pauley when he speaks at 7 p.m., today, at the Edwardsburg Area Historical Museum.

He was a flight attendant for 45 years before publishing his first memoir and first book, Bumpy Rides and Soft Landings. That publication has won numerous awards, including a second-place award in the Humor Genre from the International Book Publishers Association. And now? In addition to authoring An Unconditional Friendship, another award-winning book, he teaches the art of creating writing at the Forever Learning Institute in South Bend.

Pauley has traveled extensively on behalf of the Bumpy Rides book, including New Orleans, New York, and Denver, as well as to several cities in the region.

An Edwardsburg native, he is the son of the late Barbara Long Pauley and the grandson of the late Harley E. Long of Adamsville. After graduating from Edwardsburg High School in 1974, he earned a bachelor’s degree in German and Spanish from Albion College, where he minored in education.

He had planned to enter the field of international business but instead, spent 35 years working as a flight attendant for American Airlines. On one of his last flights before retirement, a passenger handed him his business card. A year later, he got in touch with the man and spent another 10 years flying for a privately-owned airline.

Pauley will relate his many life experiences and the versatility that comes with remaining open to change. He believes, “You can do anything you want after retirement.”

“EDWARDSBURG, MICHIGAN, JUNE 15, 2025 — The America250MI Committee has awarded the Edwardsburg Area Historical Museum $2,975 as part of the first round of the America250MI History Grant Program. The grant is for the museum’s deck renovation.

The renovation of the 20-year-old deck will ensure its continued safety for handicap access. The work will include replacing deck boards, railings, and support posts. New wooden beams will be installed as needed on the 12-foot by 36-foot structure. The deck ramp will feature new metal handrails on both sides. Work will be completed this summer for the museum’s Sauk Trail Event,  “Echoes of Our Past, “set for Sat., Sept. 27. Reenactors will use the deck for special presentations.

The America250MI History Grant Program is funding projects that will help preserve Michigan’s history for future generations. The grant program represents a key element of the state’s commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The Edwardsburg museum is participating locally in this project.

In 2020, Governor Whitmer directed the Historical Society of Michigan and the Michigan History Center to coordinate the state’s commemoration of the anniversary of the founding of the United States of America. The two organizations created the America250MI Committee to aid and advise this effort.

America250MI is Michigan’s statewide committee tasked with commemorating the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America, the American Revolution’s role in Michigan’s history and the impact that these, and various historical events, have had on the people of Michigan’s past, present and future.

Established in 1828, the Historical Society of Michigan is Michigan’s oldest cultural organization and helps connect Michigan’s past to its residents and organizations through programs and events, publications, awards, workshops, networking opportunities and support for local history organizations. The society is a member-supported educational 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and receives zero state-appropriated funding. 

The Michigan History Center fosters curiosity, enjoyment and inspiration rooted in Michigan’s stories through museums, historic sites, Michigan Historical Markers, heritage trails, archaeology and programming. The center, a part of the Department of Natural Resources, manages 11 museums statewide, museum and archaeology artifact collections and various educational programs.”

The 2025 season at the Edwardsburg Area Historical Museum will get underway on April 15, when the first exhibit, “Everyone Loves a Parade,” opens. The display features a variety of pictures from past Edwardsburg parades, along with parade memorabilia such as commemorative plates and mugs. The Edwardsburg High School band department has loaned several instruments which will be housed in the museum’s glass cases.

The second exhibit, “Sauk Trail: Echoes of the Past,” will be front and center from July 22 to November 1. That display will be highlighted by two glass cases of artifacts that the Pokagon Band of the Potawatomi Indians will loan to the museum and set up. Other museum areas will showcase items that would have been used when the Village of Edwardsburg was first settled in the 1820s, such as grinding wheels and stones, woodworking tools, and old axes.

“Tis the Season,” will end the year. It will highlight all items that revolve around the holidays, with trees, garlands, and many ornaments. That display will run from Nov. 4 through Dec. 13.

The museum opens a month early this year. Hours are 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays. It also will be open on the second Wednesday of each month from 6 to 8 p.m. It will close Dec. 13 and re-open in mid-spring, 2026.