Bufka Farm

Bufka Farm is a cluster of historic farm buildings in the northern part of Sleeping Bear Dunes, west of M-22 near Townline Road. It is a small roadside landmark, best for a slow look at the farmhouse, barn, and outbuildings rather than a long visit. The older park farm guide describes walking around the buildings from the driveway, but current public access was not confirmed, so check before turning in. The farm is about 3.8 miles past CR-669; its steep driveway meets M-22 where visibility can be limited, so take care when pulling out.

Before the Bufka family owned the property, Joseph Bergman and his family homesteaded here in the 1850s and built a log cabin. That first home survived by being folded into a later farm building: the log barn and chicken coop. Look for exposed logs on the building’s east side. It is an unusual thing to find in a farmyard, and the best reason to look past the farmhouse.

Charles Faustin Bufka bought the 200-acre property in 1880 and built the farmhouse. The barn followed around 1908, with a gambrel roof, a cross-gabled cupola, and a heavy timber frame. Because it sits on a slope, wagons could reach the upper hay floor at ground level; a sling and pulley lifted hay into the mow. The smaller buildings around it held grain, tools, and other parts of daily farm work.

Most of the farm’s fields lay across M-22 from the buildings. The family grew grain, hay, corn, potatoes, and fruit, and gathered maple sap to boil into syrup over a wood fire. In the 1960s they built a sugar shack across the road and sold syrup. Electricity reached the farm from Leland Dam in 1928, when the property was at the end of the line. If access is open, the lower farm setting makes it easier to fit several buildings into one view; keep the photograph from the visitor area rather than stopping along M-22.