Sight · Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
A farmstead remembered for horse teams and raisin cream cookies.
Overview
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Sleeping Bear Dunes Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this area
Eckerdt Farm: A Midwife and Community Dances“You're coming up on Henry and Catherine Eckerdt Farm, the yellow house at Kelderhouse and Basch roads. It's a small stop with a community story: Catherine helped deliver babies and cared for sick neighbors.”
Plays on the road 0.5 mi from George & Louise Lawr Farm in the Parkwolf Sleeping Bear Dunes Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
George & Louise Lawr Farm is an 1890s farmstead in the Port Oneida farming landscape of Sleeping Bear Dunes. It’s a history-first stop, not a scheduled house tour: current public-entry details, hours, and interior access aren’t established, so don’t count on going inside.
The land first belonged to Thomas Kelderhouse. In 1889 his son deeded 40 acres to George and Louise Burfiend Lawr; they bought the adjoining 80 acres and built their farm in the 1890s. They farmed here until 1945.
George was a skilled carpenter. In winter, he and his brother Howard teamed horses to haul logs toward Cedar or Maple City, rotating two sleighs so one could be loaded while the other was away. Louise was remembered for offering large cream cookies with raisins to people who came to her door.
Port Oneida families cut ice from frozen lakes for their homes. Shell Lake was a main source, and Mud Lake was near the Lawr farm. Neighbors hauled the blocks to icehouses and packed them in sawdust, working together with heavy hand saws before powered saws took over.
Wildlife
27 sightingsPiping PloverMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
70 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around 10 AMSighting map
56 sightingsWhite-tailed DeerMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
68 sightingsSandhill CraneMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
58 sightingsPorcupineMost seen around 8 PMSighting map
31 sightingsLoonMost seen around 5 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Sleeping Bear Dunes. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
EasyBay View Farm Loop2.4 mi · 1.5 hr · 1.4 mi awayA 2.4-mile farm loop to a schoolhouse and Lake Michigan view.
ModerateBay View Ridge Loop4 mi · 2.5 hr · 1.4 mi awayLake views, Port Oneida farm history, and one honest uphill pull.
ModeratePyramid Point Trail2.7 mi · 1.8 hr · 1.9 mi awayA short climb, then a bluff view across the Manitou Islands.
EasyGood Harbor Bay Trail2.8 mi · 1.5 hr · 3.1 mi awayDune grass gives way to quiet woods, wetlands and Lake Michigan access
Sight · 0.2 mi awayPete & Jennie Burfiend FarmA Port Oneida farmstead with a story dating to the 1860s.
Sight · 0.5 mi awayHenry and Catherine Eckerdt FarmA Port Oneida farmstead with a community midwife's story.
Sight · 0.6 mi awayOle & Magdalena Olsen FarmA 120-acre farmstead with a story beyond the buildings.
Sight · 0.7 mi awayNorth Unity SchoolA restored log schoolhouse beside the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail.
Sight · 0.7 mi awayNarada Lake ViewpointA boardwalk pause to spot the beavers’ work along the shore.
Sight · 0.8 mi awayDechow FarmPort Oneida farm history, told through a whole cluster of buildings.
Sight · 0.8 mi awayWilliam & Charlotte Kelderhouse FarmA farmhouse that held Port Oneida's store, post office and phone exchange.
Sight · 0.8 mi awayMartin & Allay Basch FarmA farm stop with ornate gables and a sunburst porch detail.Parkwolf’s Sleeping Bear Dunes ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
