The Hathaway-Hess Farm originated as the homestead of Jonathan Owen Hathaway, who migrated from New York to Oakland County with his parents in 1830. In 1861, Hathaway and his wife, Marcy C. Dewey, acquired an 80-acre parcel of land in Waterford . . . — — Map (db m177200) HM
Much of what is now Highland Recreation Area, was once the country estate
of auto magnate Edsel Ford. Looking for a nerve retreat," Edsel developed
an elaborate country estate throughout the Haven Hill and Teeple Lake Area
The area included a . . . — — Map (db m226161) HM
He was a man of vision and achievement,
and he called Haven Hill his "nerve retreat," his restful refuge. The only child of Henry and Clara Ford, Edsel Ford was born in 1893 and became the youngest president of Ford Motor Company in 1919. . . . — — Map (db m99082) HM
Michigan state parks welcomed the newly-mobile drivers
of automobiles in the early 1900s. Genevieve Gillette made it her life's work to preserve precious natural settings and make them available to the travelling public. In 1920 she began . . . — — Map (db m99055) HM
The centerpiece of Edsel Ford's working farm at Haven Hill
was this barn, built in the early 1930s and partially blown down by high winds in 2008. This huge barn was an expression of the merging agriculture and industry, a . . . — — Map (db m203192) HM
It was a garage and a playhouse.
The Carriage House was planned to be the chauffeur's home and to shelter Ford family vehicles. But the chauffeur moved into the Lodge, and the Carriage House became a playhouse for the Ford children — . . . — — Map (db m99117) HM
An expression of deep respect for the land,
this complex was called the Farm Group Buildings. Edsel Ford learned from his father Henry Ford who wrote in 1932 that "with one foot in industry and another foot in the land, human society is . . . — — Map (db m99131) HM
The Gatehouse was the formal entryway
into the 2,422 acre Haven Hill Estate, Edsel Ford's chosen "weekend getaway." While Edsel gathered property for his country estate in the 1920s, Packard Motor Car Company and General Motors bought large . . . — — Map (db m99066) HM
It was an expression of new wealth and mobility
created by the early automobile industry. Twenty years after his father founded Ford Motor Company in 1903, Edsel Ford began buying the hilly property that became his family's rural retreat . . . — — Map (db m99106) HM
Asa Loren Kelley (1813-1887) migrated from New York as a child around 1820. He settled in Owosso with his first wife, Armitta, and they had two children. Upon the deaths of his wife and children, Kelley married Louisa Austin and moved to White Lake . . . — — Map (db m180386) HM
They were discovering America, all over again.
In the summer of 1956, over 5,000 Girl Scouts from around the coutry and around the world gathered at Highland Recreation Area for the first Girl Scout Senior Roundup. The aim was to give the . . . — — Map (db m159639) HM
This white clapboard edifice was built by Irish immigrants in 1840. It is believed to be the oldest existing frame Catholic church building in the Lower Peninsula. This area was one of the earliest in Michigan to be settled by Irish immigrants who . . . — — Map (db m177216) HM
They came from around the world.
In the early 1920s, "weekend jaunts" in automobiles and on new roads brought day travelers to this countryside like never before, and also brought prominent people from around the world. The world of Edsel . . . — — Map (db m99075) HM
This cemetery was established by Robert Garner when his nine-month-old child, Mary, died in 1837. White Lake Road, which runs past it, was once an Indian trail. Garner, a pioneer of White Lake Township, was involved in the establishment of the First . . . — — Map (db m153554) HM
White Lake Township's first white settler, Harley Olmstead, came here from New York State in 1830. The township was set off in 1836. Beginning around 1837 daily stagecoaches and wagons hauling lumber traveled along the old White Lake Road, part of . . . — — Map (db m94793) HM
