VOYAGEUR CANOE TO BE AT PLEASANT LAKE FOR SAUK TRAIL FEST

The Sarett Nature Center’s Voyageur canoe will be at Pleasant Lake on Sat., Sept. 26, to give rides to attendees at the Sauk Trail Festival at the Edwardsburg Area Historical Museum on Main Street. The canoe is a 35-foot replica of one used in the 1600s in the fur trade.

The festival will be held on museum grounds from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. It will feature several reenactors, speakers, music, an archaeological dig, crafts, and children’s activities.

The event is free, and food trucks will be on site.

EDWARDSBURG: Music from the Civil War era will waft through the air, and at least 18 reenactors will be in period attire at the Sauk Trail Festival on Sat., Sept. 26, at the Edwardsburg Area Historical Museum.

This year’s event, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., covers the years 1775-1875 and celebrates the nation’s 250th anniversary. The festival spans the period from the signing of the Declaration of Independence through the Civil War.

The Sarett Nature Center’s 35-foot Voyageur Canoe will be in Edwardsburg for free rides on Pleasant Lake. An artillery demonstration, children’s crafts, and an archaeological dig will provide interest.  Erica Hartley, director of the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project, will speak. She is an instructor for the Institute for Intercultural and Anthropological Studies at Western Michigan University.

A highlight of the day will be a performance by four members of the open group, Lawless Jam, featuring the guitar, Appalachian dulcimer, banjo, and fiddle. The songs to be performed were either written during the Civil War or popular at the time. The exception is “Ashokan Farewell,” the title theme of Ken Burns’ 1990 documentary series, “The Civil War,” on PBS.

Selections will include “Soldiers’ Joy,” “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” “John Brown’s Body,” “Battle Cry of Freedom,” “Rally Round the Flag,” and “Johnny Comes Marching Home.”

The Lawless Jam emerged in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic when Michiana-area musicians began jamming outdoors at the Dr. T.K. Lawless County Park near Vandalia. Since then, the group has played at the Cass County Historical Society’s Harvest Festival at Newton Woods, the Underground Railroad Days, and the Cass County Fair. Members jam from 3 to 4:30 p.m. on Wednesdays at the Cass County Council on Aging, Cassopolis.

Fort St. Joseph and Its Ties to the American Revolution will be Erika Hartley’s topic.

Hartley is the curatorial fellow of the Niles History Center.

Hartley will explore the fort’s history, its key location in the Great Lakes region, and what historical documents and archaeology have revealed about its role in the American Revolution.

Several reenactors from Robinson’s Battery 1^st MI Light Artillery Company C. will be available to answer questions about a cannon on display. The reproduction Parrott Civil War field rifle is similar to those used in the War Between the States. 

Reenactor Joe Zdziebko will also speak on the history of muskets, their different components and how to fire them.

Food trucks will be on site.  There is no admission charge.

To celebrate the 250^th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the Edwardsburg Area Historical Museum’s speaker series will focus on Michigan’s role in the nation’s history.

The Uptown Improvement Association (UIA) will join the museum in co-sponsoring a series of four lectures by Bob Myers, the former director of education and historical programming for the Historical Society of Michigan in Lansing. The lectures will be held in the Community Room of the new Edwardsburg Branch of the Cass District Library. The library is partnering with the museum and the UIA for the series. All lectures begin at 7 p.m. There is no admission charge.

Myers is semi-retired as the senior advisor for history programming. He joined the HSM in 2017. Previously, he was the longtime curator for the Berrien County Historical Association in Berrien Springs. An author of several books, he has penned numerous articles for the Michigan History Magazine, the Chronicle, and the Michigan Historical Review. Many area residents have traveled with Myers as he continues to lead historical bus tours around the country.

A graduate of Alma College with a Bachelor of Arts in History, Myers has a Master of Arts in History from Western Michigan University.

The lectures are:

Thurs., June 18: “Lost on Lake Michigan: The Wreck of the Chicora.”

The new steamer, Chicora of St. Joseph, had already moored for the winter in Jan. 1895. Then its owners were asked by the Big Four Railroad to send the steamer to Milwaukee on a final voyage. It was a fateful decision.

Thurs., July 9: “Myths Busted: History Myths or Facts.”
Myths and tall tales are everywhere. But Myers asks which are true and which are false. He looks at historical legends to see what myths are known or only thought to be true.

Thurs., Aug. 20: “Disaster at Fort St. Joseph: Pontiac’s Rebellion.”

In 1761, a young, inexperienced ensign from the 60^th Regiment arrived at Fort St. Joseph in command of its small British garrison. Francis Schlosser insulted people from the time he set foot in the door, and his actions ended disastrously.

Thurs., Oct. 15: “‘The Worst Colonel I Ever Saw’: Francis Quinn and the Battle of Shiloh.”

Col. Francis Quinn of Niles led the 12^th Michigan Infantry into action in the Battle of Shiloh. Michigan Gov. Austin Blair said he was “The worst colonel I ever saw.” Join Myers as he follows Quinn and the command through one of the Civil War’s deadliest battles.

Elegance and simplicity describe filet crocheting, which is front and center in the Edwardsburg Area Historical Museum’s opening display in 2026, in celebration of the nation’s 250^th anniversary.

The work is the Declaration of Independence, created by the late Lucille Brizendine (1928-2025) of Edwardsburg and Lawton, MI.  The 53-by-33-inch creation adorns the large bulletin board in the museum’s gallery. Brizendine taught herself how to crochet as a young woman, and her farm home in Edwardsburg was filled with numerous crocheted doilies and bedspreads, for which she received several awards.

The opening display, “Riding and Writing for History,” will run through July 25 and celebrates the 250^th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Brizendine’s crocheted work shows it being signed in the Assembly Room of the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia, later renamed Independence Hall.

Several exhibit clusters make up the overall presentation, including patriotic-style memorabilia in two showcases.

The second exhibit, which runs from July 28 through Nov. 7, will capture the essence of “Thimbles, Thread and Tea.” It will celebrate Betsy Ross, who stitched the first American Flag, and remember the Boston Tea Party, a protest in 1773, that opposed taxation without representation.

The patriotic theme continues for the Christmas season with “Stars, Stripes, and Christmas Lights,” which runs from Nov. 10 through Dec. 12. White lights on the 10-foot tree in the museum gallery will be boldly accented with red ornaments, blue ribbons, and American Flags. Smaller patriotic items will adorn the display cases.

The museum will close on Dec. 12 and reopen in April 2027.