Walking With History

History can often be dry and uninteresting, or sometimes it can totally come alive and capture every part of your imagination. It can tell us who we are and what lives we could experience and know. In our every day walks everything could suddenly be different - it could become a world where we might walk beside people, and sometimes can even stand side by side with that day in a different time. When I think of those times in the early part of the century, I often think of my own favorite haunts in our small town. They are often those that look and feel of the town's early history. And if I tightly close my eyes I can almost see those people wandering in and out of my world.

What makes any place historical is often more than simply its age, or the nostalgia that it can call to mind. The Holland Peanut Store at 46 East Eighth Street offers an inviting combination of mouth watering aromas. From the roasted nuts and homemade chocolates that seems to permeate the air of the small store, and that's only the beginning because this establishment has a large selection of goodies for special holidays, or any kind of important occasion, but this store holds close a family history too that makes this confectionary gem a strong memory both past and present to many in our community.

The store, which has been a part of the city's fabric for over a hundred years, has so much more to offer than just tantalizing scents and memories, though. With square bins fit tightly together filled with all varieties of candies, glass cases filled with roasted nuts and specialty chocolates, colorful piñatas, storage tins, and an assortment of other small gift items. Their homemade ice cream creation the Nutty Paddle Pops are sensational!

But sometimes history here can be clothed in other forms too. Sometimes it can be found in the buildings that really have come to symbolize a city's center. One such icon here is the Tower Clock found on the corner of 8^th Street and River Avenue. Built in late 1892 this building first housed the Holland City Bank, and later the Chamber of Commerce. But the main attraction of this place is the huge clock that looks down over much of our downtown. Saved from destruction and restored by many donors including some wealthy patrons the Tower Clock in 1988 became a part of the changes that was known as the Streetscape project that brought to life our whole retail district. From an important beginning to continued life that huge time piece has continued to stand over lives, and many more stories than even I can imagine.

Season's History

Last night the last snow flakes of winter fell.
They're talking warmer days and sunshine,
Winter is history, they say.

When does yesterday
Become history?

The blue sky no longer
Peeks around the clouds but
Shimmers in an cloudless sky.

Now becomes something new,
And spring, dancing out into
A blinding spotlight begins that
New Day.
Yesterday, is history.

Catching a Dream...

I want to escape! No, that's not quite right...I want to travel! I want to go to Ireland and England and hoof it around, or catch a train all over the islands and see what's historical and what has beauty - what's ancient, and maybe a bit more modern. And I want to see and hear people all over describing what's going on in speeches that tell of the sites, or simply overhear conversations of people in front of me in line.

Nothing as specific as London, but nothing as general as Scotland. Confused? Don't be. My passions tend to be a jumble. You see I've loved those two isles since I was young so the whole of the British Isles has been a dream for a long time to me. I even dream of working for the British Museum and living in a flat for a year, and have read all that I could both fiction and non!

But many constraints have kept me here - tied to my place on planet earth. So instead I dream and try to catch that "mist" in a net, and some how make it real, for until I hold it in my hand and roll it over and over examining it so carefully - it will only be a dream.

I need to live the dream!

A Lost Art

Remembering is a regular "trip" for many people. Some dip into those past experiences daily. But what if memories, our childhood or other memories aren't accessible?

What are memories, but the records of events that we can repeat over and over again. Often they are the positive things we've accomplished or experienced, but not always. Sometimes they are the nightmares that haunt us. But whatever they are they are what make up who we are every day of our lives from how we treat people to how hard a worker we are.

Memories are also how we know much of our history. If we look back at Queen Elizabeth I much of what we know about the happenings of her court come from the diaries and ledger from the period. What we know of the early European settlements in America come from the writings and records that have come down through the years to us. Some of it comes from letters that were written, or journals and diaries that were kept.

But today we have little to pass down to future generations because we all have progressively written less and less. Today the normal person does not journal or write long snail mail letters that might get saved, but instead create short emails that give little real information about our everyday lives. Some of our best information about even the Viet Nam War come from the letters home written by service people. It seems that no one really even wants to write anymore. There are writers like J.K. Rowling who inspire young readers, but few seem to want to emulate her.

The English teacher in me wants to rattle a cage or two to get people to somehow realize that we are losing something precious - Good writers who care about the written word. But the main question is how do I do it? How do we, as a nation refocus on writing as well as math and science?

A Storied Home - Marigold Lodge

Today, summers in a big city can be unbearable with the stifling heat, but in the early 20th century it was much worse. If you lived in any city like Chicago or Milwaukee the heat and humidity made for long, hot, and oppressive summers. Many would look for a way to escape for days or weeks along the cooler lakeshore. The natural beauty of the eastern shore of Lake Michigan offered a cool and peaceful escape during the summer months.

Many of the affluent would cruise along the green and cool shore and enjoy the quiet of the woods and small cities and towns peppered along Lake Michigan’s eastern shoreline. As with many historical homes around Holland, the story of one such summer home begins with a wish for cooler and more peaceful summers.

Chicago industrialist Egbert H. Gold, was searching for a place to build a house during the summer of 1912 where his family could escape the summer heat. The north shore of Black Lake (now Lake Macatawa) on Point Superior offered a wooded haven and Marigold Lodge was built in the Prairie School style in 1913. Named for his wife, Margaret and only daughter, Mary Jayne it became the summer house for the Gold family that also included 2 boys Egbert Jr., and Samuel.

Most of the acreage surrounding the house still remains as it was in the early life of the area courtesy of Mr. Gold’s appreciation for the natural setting and his insistence on keeping much of the wooded areas around the home as he found them. Because of his care we have a truly remarkable example of the early natural world surrounding the lake.

This part of Holland was a summer retreat for many others who lived the city life too. Countless people came by ship or train to stay in cottages, resorts or camps found along the lake’s shoreline. For many the shore, wooded areas, and beaches offered a truly wonderful summer refuge.

Today’s cottages and homes along the lakeshore harken back to those earlier days that gave our town that leisurely, summertime image. Many of the cottages we see along winding lakeshore roads today hold memories and stories that have helped craft our history. The residents, homes and those who visit all help create the image we have of Holland, the town that is a welcoming, friendly place to vacation and live.