Naturalists from the Sarett Nature Center, Benton Harbor, will be in Edwardsburg Sat., Sept. 27, to give the public rides on Pleasant Lake in its 35-foot voyageur canoe as part of the Sauk Trail Festival at the Edwardsburg Area Historical Museum. The canoe holds up to 19 people, representing years of water travel. The canoes were used extensively for the fur trade from the 1600s until about 1870, when the French-Canadian voyageurs were trading with the Native Americans. A naturalist will be in the front of the canoe with a steersman in the back and riders help paddle. Rides are open to any age according to a nature center spokesperson, but young children must be accompanied by adults. Life jackets will be provided. Rides will last from 20 to 30 minutes. Voyageur canoes are typically made of birch bark, officials noted, but the one used is fiberglass that resembles birch bark.

The festival runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with reenactors on the museum grounds, speakers, and a performance in native regalia by four dancers and four drummers from the Pokagon Band of the Potawatomi Nation. Food trucks will be on site. There will be an archeological dig for children.

(photo of the voyageur canoe by Lynn Christensen. The museum’s deck for the was renovated for the Sauk Trail Festival with a grant from the America250MI project which commemorates the upcoming 250th birthday of the United States in 2026. (logo below)

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.”

Variety will reign in July at the Edwardsburg Area Historical Museum with metal detecting, Sauk Trail history, and music on the museum’s back deck.

A badge from the 1894 Columbian Exposition (The Chicago World’s Fair), a 1925 dance card from the University of Illinois Military Ball, a running board from a 1909 Model T, printing plates from the Edwardsburg Argus, and a 1935 half dime. Neil Hassinger will address all of these, discovered while metal detecting.

Hassinger, a Niles native who, with his wife, Kathleen, has lived in Edwardsburg for 38 years, will speak on “What’s Underfoot in Edwardsburg” at 7 p.m., Thurs., July 17.

It is just one of the things Hassinger has done after retiring from a business he owned. A 1977 graduate of Niles High School, he attended Southwestern Michigan College. In addition to metal detecting, he is involved with the archaeological digs conducted each summer by Western Michigan University at the Fort St. Joseph site along the St. Joseph River in Niles. He also serves as a museum volunteer and actively participates in reenactments.

On July 22, the display, “Sauk Trail: Echoes of Our Past,” will open. The exhibit will feature artifacts on loan from the Pokagon Band of the Potawatomi, which will curate the showcase. Also included are grinding wheels, stones, woodworking tools, and old axes that were used when Edwardsburg was settled. The display will be featured during the Sauk Trail Festival on September 27.

The Relics band will perform at the museum at 7 p.m., Sat., July 26, on the museum’s back deck. Classic rock and pop music will be selections from the group’s repertoire.

Admission to all three events is free.

EDWARDSBURG–For those who enjoy tasting wild plants–whether in a pizza, frittata, or as a digestion-stimulating drink–opportunities will be available when Jim Meuninck presents the “Forager’s Dozen” at the Edwardsburg Area Historical Museum at 7 p.m., Thurs., May 22.

There is no admission charge.

Meuninck, who lives at Eagle Lake with his wife, Jill, is an author, biologist, counselor, and mycologist (who studies fungi), will entertain guests with his knowledge of twelve wild plants that, he notes, ‘provide superior nutrition, are easy to identify, and make tasty substitutes for conventional ingredients.’ He has spent at least 60 years foraging and makes annual trips out west to collect information for his guides on wild plants. His guides and films have received high ratings from several organizations and publications.

His video presentation will highlight his work, along with demonstrations, tastings, and ideas for life-changing habits, as well as a few ‘health-stimulating laughs.’ Meuninck grew up in Mishawaka and graduated with degrees in biology and counseling from the University of Hawaii. He taught biology and science for eight years for the Department of Defense on military bases in several countries and also taught in South Bend, Indiana.

Peonies, roses, lilies, grasses, and other favorites will be sold when the Edwardsburg Area Historical Museum holds its yearly perennial plant sale fundraiser from May 16 to May 31.

Supported by Dussel’s Farm Market and Greenhouses, Cassopolis, the event will take place on the museum grounds in Edwardsburg and will include more than 1000 plants. A wide selection of potted annual plants, suitable for patios and cemetery placements, will also be available.

Plant prices range from $1 to $30 each and include several contributions from community members. Volunteers will manage the sale; all proceeds go to the museum’s general fund.