museum

As most of you know, our Community Christmas last year was a huge sucess. With over 200 people in attendence, we managed to collect enough food items to fill the back of a pickup truck. We had enough monitery donations to buy the perishable food items we needed to complete multable Christmas dinners.

We have been looking for an annual event to put on for the public. We now believe that we have found it. This year we are partnered up with one of the local churches and may have another one joining.

This year's Community Christmas will be held; again, at the Museum Sat, Dec 17th. Festivities will begin at 5PM EST. The Museum will be open Mon the 12th through the 16th from noon to 4PM to accept food and monitery donations. Goodies and hot drinks will be available. Please come and enjoy the Christmas carols while being around a bon fire.

We hope everyone can make it, and again make it a Christmas that some not so fortunate people of our community can enjoy.

May God bless you all. 

A huge heartfelt thank you to all who helped make this Community Christmas a great sucess. We were able to double what what was recieved and given back to our community. May God continue to bless each and every one of you.

The members of the Historical Society.

Normally, we open on Memorial day. Seeing Memorial day falls on a Monday, we will opening Saturday, May 28th. We will be open Sunday as well as Monday from noon to 4pm. We will be closed on Tuesday.

Our summer hours will start the following Wednesday, June 1st through Saturday. We will be open from noon to 4pm.

This past year we have grown by leaps and bounds. Our Gift shop manager Sharon Livingston is making a Military display that will be second to none. She is trying to list every member of every branch of service, from the Civil War to present of Matchwood and Bergland townships, Including the Red Cross ladies. Each Soldier will have their own name, rank and branch of service done on a special 4x6 photo of the war they served in.

We are proud of our Veterans and Soldiers who served and gave their lives for the freedom we enjoy today. This is the least we can do to honor them.

A photo of the bulliton boards will pe posted as soon as Sharon is finished with her display.

In the near future:

The Historical Society will be making our own historical greeting cards. These cards will have an historical picture on the front, with a discription of the picture inside. Want a family members picture on a christmas card? We can do as many as you want. Cost is minimal as we are doing them.

We are also going to be publishing members short story books, along with a cookbook.

We are converting the garage to a carriage house to display our horse drawn items, including a Surry and a Market sleigh.

Bringing the Spirit of Christmas to Bergland

As members we feel Christmas has become too commercialized. We, as a group have decided to start a program that we can repeat every year. Our plan is to put a tree in the front yard of the Museum with lights and food for our birds and squirrels The museum will be opened from December 13th through the 18th. That week we hope to bring the spirit of Christmas to our community. We will be collecting donations of canned food, or any monetary donations that would help to help two families in need. The monetary donations will be given in the form of a Wal-Mart gift card. The names of the two families will be kept anonymous, and will be chosen by members of a select group of planners for the program. We want to give back to the community. A part of our program is that we want not only to help make this program to be successful but to invite the community to share in bringing the Spirit of Christmas to the area.

Also, by joining us on the 18th of Dec. at the museum, we will be singing Christmas Carols, enjoying coffee, hot chocolate, hot tea and old fashion Christmas cookies. Pastor Ted Trudgeon and his wife have been invited to bless the program and join us in singing.

We also want to put a tree in the main room of the Museum. Anyone that would like to help us with decorating the tree indoors, is welcome to bring home made ornaments, or are welcome to hang anything they wish. Our goal is the spirit of Christmas. We will be purchasing hams or turkeys for the chosen families. We aren't going to be considering this charity. We want to show that at a time of need, our community can come together with love and sharing. We can become one, with one heart, and one hand, to become united as a friend and neighbor. Like the way Christmas was in the past. The Ottawa National Forest Service is supplying the trees.

There well be someone at the Museum on Dec. 13th through the 18th. Hours 12:00 - 4:00 to be on hand to receive the donations. Then on the 18th, we will be starting with singing, friendship, and refreshments, at 6:00pm EST. Please help make this a Spirited Christmas. There will be two large boxes at the museum for donations of meal items.

Also, we welcome you to sign up for the drawing for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prizes, to show you we appreciate in making this program success.

Thank you, Sharon Livingston

Member of the planning group

906- 390-0012

Bergland Museum Gets Facelift

The dedicated members of the Bergland/Matchwood Historical Society have been working diligently on the appearance of the Museum. Our museum is the former Ranger house at Bergland Ottawa National Forest Ranger Station. The building was built in 1936 by the CCC camp. It is a strong, well built dwelling that will be standing for years to come. The Rangers house has been standing empty for over 20 years. As everyone knows, a house needs people in it to live. If it stands empty for any length of time, it dies and decays. In July of 2009 the building received it's chance to live again. Working with the ONF and the Bergland Cultural and Heritage center, we got the building. Then the work started.

Our deadline was Aug 1st 2009 for our open house. That weekend coincided with Bergland Bay Days. All of the members jumped in helping in any way they could. After all, these dedicated people waited 34 years for a building. Sweeping, scrubbing, painting, brush and lawn cut, and scrubbing and polishing were just the few chores we had to take care of before we brought in our first artifact! Members has artifacts stored in their homes and garages. The School was also a storage area, not to mention other township buildings. Some of these items that were stored were lost to us when some members passed away and their belongings were distributed among the family. In checking records, I found items given/donated to the Historical Society more that once! Now, those artifacts have a home.

From the time we opened, artifacts were brought in almost every day. Many times we had to re-arrange the Museum. Then enter 2010. What a monumental year for us. Our small group volunteered over 2000 hours of their time. Our Museum grew by leaps and bounds, as did our membership. We decided the Museum needed a face lift. Again, The Ottawa National Forest Service and the Bergland Cultural and Heritage Center got together with us and made it happen. We had both the house and garage painted. New shutters made, painted and installed, along with a new wrought Iron entrance handrail.

Future plans are flowers and plants on the outside, along with all the underbrush removed between the Museum and Highway. Old horse drawn farm equipment is being displayed outside along with some other larger historical artifacts.  Yes, we are proud of our little community and the people in it. We represent just a portion of our history. Stop in, you just might see some of your relatives either hanging on the wall or in our photo albums!

We have been finding our regular 1st tuesday of the month meeting time wasn't working out all that well. We decided that the 2nd Wednesday of the month worked out better for all. The meetings are being held at the Bergland Senior Center as our membership has outgrown the Museum space we used to use. Meeting times are at 4:30 EST. Everyone is welcome to come and check us out. Who knows, you may want to join.

On July 2nd, at 2pm, author Hans Feld will be visiting us. He will be doing a book signing at our request. Hans is the author of the much sought after book titled "My Compass points north".

Visiting with him the other day was an enlightening experiance. No way can he put all his stories in one book. So, he is currently working on another. I'm sure it will be as good as his current one. If you want to be entertained with truthful humor about hunting and violating in Matchwood township, this book is one you will read more than once.

Come visit us. If you have already have purchased his book, he will gladly sign  it for you. His book is available at our Museum. The coffee is always hot.

When George Nilsen contacted me and told me he would be in the area, I got excited. Here was a chance to meet one of Bergland’s authors, and I wanted to share the experience.

George was born at his home in Bergland on May 17th, 1925. After graduating, he joined the Marines and retired a Lt. Colonel. After his military career, he obtained his PHD in English Lit and taught in Colleges and Universities. After retiring again, he has settled down and found a couple of new passions in writing and golf, not necessarily in that order.

George’s first book A Synttende Mai Son (A man born on his Nations birthday) is about his early life growing up in Bergland during the Depression. The son of immigrant Norwegian parents who divorce seeks, by personal achievement, recognition of worth by himself, his family and peers.

As older brother, sisters and stepbrothers depart as soon as possible from a farm tension-riven by efforts to save it from tax sale by building a dairy farm to pay taxes, buy clothing for, at first, nearly a dozen family members. Efforts to grow not only sustenance food, but to trade cordwood and potatoes for grocery store credit creates more and more responsibility; sheer labor falls on that son, whose stepfather’s open hatred forces the son at sixteen to leave the farm on the edge of his beloved Ottawa National Forest.

A Syttende Mai Son is a fascinating book. It gives an in-depth detail of how life was during the depression era and what he had to learn without being shown how. He was expected to be a master at any task dictated to him. George watched and learned. It is my opinion, Mr. George Nilsen turned out more than just okay.

George’s 2nd book, a work of fiction, The Luna Light Gang highlights moonshiners, providing corn liquor to the community and ready cash for the members of the Luna Light Gang. It also shows what and how rumors and gossip do to a small town. The use of local names of people who have passed away has made this book somewhat of a controversy. I think that’s the reason it’s our bet seller. Personally I loved it.

A Cup a’ Kindness, the sequel to The Luna Light Gang continues with the life and times of Eunice Ryan (better known as Gallopin Lil) and Dutchy Schmidt. Again, this is another book of fiction.

The 4th book, A Distant Altar, includes the sacred altar on top of the Norwich Bluff. At the center of this riveting historical fiction is a native American tribe whose cultural identity was stolen and a tracker, a man named Dutch John, who finds the life he wants after an incredibly long journey of being a refugee on the run from Hitler’s Army and making his living on the hoof hunting others. As he tracks a murderer, he ultimately helps identify and reclaim the Ojibwe’s spiritual portrait of humanity; this novel describes fear and hatred as well as hope and loyalty. This novel is one of those small miracles that show readers what life was like on a reservation during the great depression and what sort of men and women each of us might become should be willing.

George’s 5th book is currently at the publisher. I asked him why he wrote the books of fiction the way he did using names the people in the area could relate to. His answer was simple. I wrote these books the way I felt they should come out. I can’t wait for his next one to be on the shelf!

We opened the doors to our Museum May 29th. Traffic wasn’t heavy, but steady. We conducted 8 tours in the 3-day holiday weekend. I originally had a book signing set up with Author Hans Feld. Hans had to cancel the book signing due to time restraints and reschedule it for the July 4th weekend.

Sunday, the 30th a couple and another fellow come in to check out our Museum. I gave the couple a tour while Marie Livingston talked with the other guy. After the tour, I poured coffee for everyone and we all sat talking of history and the area. It’s really nice and relaxing to just sit and share old stories and tales of our past. Marie mentioned she needed to pick up the book written about Matchwood for her daughter. It was then I told her about the author Hans Feld having to cancel his book signing this weekend. Now, picture this: This guy dressed in a faded camo hat and T shirt had been setting at the table for about 45 minutes not saying a word, just listening to the stories and enjoying them. He spoke for the first time, saying “Thank you.” Mystified, I asked him why. He replied, “Thank you for the book signing.” Bells went off in my head. It was Hans himself! He had slipped in with the others and sort of blended in, just grinning and drinking his coffee. Then, the stories really started. We spent about 2 hours talking and enjoying each other’s company.

Hans is the Author to that sought after book called My Compass Points North. It’s comprised of hunting tales and violating in Matchwood. This book is one hilarious read. The book is filled with the likes of the following passage; No sooner did they have the deer loaded on the back of the orange Suzuki than they found themselves faced with lights in their faces and voices stating, “DON’T MOVE. CONSERVATION OFFICERS.” Hans is currently working on another book. I hope he finishes it soon!

You will find all of the above-mentioned books at our Museum. I believe the Ontonagon Museum has them also. Our library is small compared to the One in Ontonagon. They still have a lot of “must have” books I have to pick up yet. Visit your local Museum and enjoy the history.

Soon to be brought to you from our gift shop. They are here now! We will be offering an assortment of local historical greeting cards. These cards will only be able to be obtained exclusively at the Museum. Send your loved one a picture of our history. Each card will have a brief description of the historical photo.

Our pumper Wagon is back from  the Powder coaters. It's beautiful! One wheel is made, and the other is being worked on. Look for an article in the newspaper as well as on here this spring. The whole community needs a pat on the back for this one. Special thanks go out to Howard Yesney, Mike Flood, Mike Streeter, and the Bergland Fire Department. It goes without saying that before and after pictures will be posted as well.

UPDATE: March 2010

Mike Flood finished the second wheel. Mike does some beautiful work. We will be painting the woodwork as soon as the weather warms up. This will be a beautiful display of our first piece of Firefighting equipment.

UPDATE: May 2010

Mike Flood has finished his portion of the Pumper wagon. The wheels are painted and it looks fantastic. I have to make the tounge and crossbar for pulling it by hand. This is going to be a beautiful display.