Laketown Township near Saugatuck in Allegan County, Michigan — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)

Maple Tapping

— The Felt Estate —

Photographed by Daniel Barriball, August 4, 2025

1. The Felt Estate Marker

Inscription.
For hundreds of years, Native Americans tapped the nearby maple trees for sap to make syrup and molasses. The local tribes perfected the collection of sap and syrup making. After studying their methods, Dorr Felt began tapping the trees to make his own "Okemos" syrup in the sap house once located just east of here. Did you know it takes forty gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup?

Photo caption: The Sap House, seen here in 1926, was demolished sometime after the mansion became a seminary in 1970.

Built by inventor Dorr Felt in 1928, the Felt Mansion is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Erected by The Felt Estate.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Horticulture & Forestry • Industry & Commerce. A significant historical year for this entry is 1926.

Location. 42° 41.87′ N, 86° 11.627′ W. Marker is near Saugatuck, Michigan, in Allegan County. It is in Laketown Township. It can be reached from 138th Avenue. This marker is along the Shore Acres Trail north of the Felt Mansion in Shore Acres Township Park. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 6597 138th Avenue, Holland MI 49423, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Southwest Michigan,

specifically in Greater Grand Rapids,

and in one of the Lake Michigan Shore counties. It is also in the American Midwest

and on the Great Lakes.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Northwest Territory.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 3 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Felt Mansion (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct

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line); The Most Reverend Joseph A. Hickey, O.S.A. (about 400 feet away); The Shore Acres Trail (about 400 feet away); The Horse Barn (about 500 feet away); Saugatuck Dune State Park (approx. 0.2 miles away); Laketown Township Hall (approx. 2.4 miles away); Saugatuck Pump House (approx. 2.7 miles away); All Saints Episcopal Church / Gordon W. Lloyd (approx. 2.9 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Saugatuck.

Also see . . . The Felt Mansion. Official site The website of the Felt Estate (Submitted on August 14, 2025, by Daniel Barriball of Chesterton, Indiana.)

The Felt Estate Marker in context image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Daniel Barriball, August 4, 2025

2. The Felt Estate Marker in context

Credits. This page was last revised on August 20, 2025. It was originally submitted on August 14, 2025, by Daniel Barriball of Chesterton, Indiana. This page has been viewed 82 times since then and 10 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on August 14, 2025, by Daniel Barriball of Chesterton, Indiana. • Andrew Ruppenstein was the editor who published this page.