Cambridge Junction Historic State Park

Cambridge Junction Historic State Park. . , Location, Location, Location , (left panel) , , Nature made Sylvester Walker for his business. Men of every class and condition of life from the earliest times would stretch out their day's drive to reach the hospitable roof of Walker's hotel. , , Francis A. Dewey , , In 1832, Calvin Snell found the new road junction in Cambridge township ideally suited to build a tavern. Eleven years later he sold the business to Sylvester and Lucy Walker of Cooperstown, New York. , , The Walkers worked hard to serve tired and hungry road travelers, and their business boomed. In 1853 they built the brick tavern across the road. The taverns were community meeting places where people socialized, picked up mail from postmaster Walker, and sometimes held church services. , , The original tavern became a private home when Francis A. Dewey, a local stagecoach driver, bought it in 1865. , , On a lovely summer's day..., there came winding through the north part of this township, near the Indian trail and marked trees, an emigrant wagon, with horse and six persons; also cows, with a goodly number of fair traveling hogs, all wearied with overland travel from Ohio. , , Francis A. Dewey , , , Walker Tavern Historic Site
(middle panel) , , In the 1830s, two roads built atop Native American trails , the Chicago Road (US-12) and the La Plaisance Bay Pike (M-50) , met here. , , These roads, and the recently completed Erie Canal in New York, brought thousands of newcomers to inexpensive lands in southern Michigan as part of a national westward movement. , , Building the Roads , Following the Native American "Sauk Trail," the Chicago Road began as a military road in 1812. Twenty years later, Michigan's Territorial government contracted with local surveyor Musgrove Evans to map a new road from La Plaisance Bay on Lake Erie to the Chicago Road. Avoiding lowland marshes, Evans chose Cambridge Township's high ground for the junction. , , Changes , In 1926, US-12 and M-50 were graded and paved. In the 1960s, road engineers created left turn lanes and flattened US-12 to create better traffic sighlines at this busy intersection. , , Bottom image caption: , Cambridge Junction Historic State Park features the original 1832 Walker Tavern, the reconstructed barn and the 1929 Hewitt House. , The Michigan History Center invites you to discover life at the junction of two of Michigan's most important roads. , , Selling Nostalgia , (right panel) , , In the 1920s, middle-class workers had growing leisure time and disposable income. Ford Motor Company workers could afford to purchase a car they produced and go for a drive in the country. Detroiters and other tourists on US-12 or M-50 explored the lush green landscape and clear blue lakes of the Irish Hills, where the Walker Taverns provided places to eat, shop, and learn a little history. , , In 1922, Episcopal priest Frederick Hewitt, a friend of automobile baron Henry Ford, purchased the two Walker Taverns to showcase his business ventures , selling antiques and serving chicken dinners. Hewitt capitalized on the nation's colonial nostalgia, creating one of the oldest operating tourist attractions in the area: Historic Walker Tavern. , , Bottom image caption: , Hewitt House , Frederick and Edna Hewitt built this Colonial Revival house (designed by their son, James) as their new home in 1929. Two of the Hewitts' four grandchildren, Elizabeth and Ann, posed for this photo in 1940. Visit the Hewitt House Visitors Center to discover more about the Hewitt family and the Irish Hills.