Tri-City Heritage Tour - Coming June 2010

Mark your calendars! The first ever Tri-City Heritage Tour will take place on June 26-27. The Tri-City Heritage Tour is designed to create access, awareness and excitement about our heritage. The tour provides residents and visitors with a unique opportunity to explore and enjoy sometimes hidden and always interesting places and spaces in our cities and townships – all free of charge! The event will be sponsored in part by a grant from the Berrien Community Foundation and will allow public access for one weekend only to historic sites in Hagar, Coloma, Watervliet, Bainbridge, and Hartford.

The tour map and site information will be published as a four page insert in the Tri-City Record newspaper the week before the event takes place.

More information will posted as it becomes available.

March 16 – Winemakers of North Berrien

Photo courtesy of karmavista.com

On Tuesday, March 16 at 7pm, the North Berrien Historical Museum will host “Winemakers of North Berrien,” a free presentation connecting local stories of agriculture from the past and present. Coloma winemakers Joe Herman (Karma Vista Vineyards and Winery) and Tony Peterson (Contessa Wine Cellars) will each discuss their family roots and their current work as pioneer winemakers in the area. The Herman family were among the earliest German settlers to begin farming in Bainbridge Township more than 150 years ago. Peterson is a third generation wine maker who apprenticed for years at his father’s Kalamazoo winery before founding his own in the hills of North Berrien.

These Coloma businesses are contributing to a recent statewide boom in the wine industry. In the last decade the number of wineries in Michigan has more than doubled, encouraged by dramatically increased sales as well as a slew of regional and international awards earned by Michigan wines. More than 800,000 people visit Michigan’s vineyards and wineries annually. In 2009 Governor Granholm proclaimed April as “Michigan Wine Month” to recognize and celebrate the industry’s importance in the state economy.

For more information about the wineries of North Berrien, visit www.karmavista.com and www.contessawinecellars.com. For more information about this program, call the North Berrien Historical Museum at (269) 468-3330.

Lunch with the Curator

Image Courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society (Loc# E450 p15 Neg# 69117).

Join Curator Alex Gates for a series of discussions about the impact of national policy on local history. The goal of the discussions is to improve the quality of our exhibit materials for The Life Atomic exhibit. Bring a brown bag lunch and join in on a lively history conversation. Coffee will be provided by the museum.

Friday, January 29, 12-1pm - Our topic will be fallout shelters in North Berrien. Bring your own photos and stories to share.

Friday, February 26, 12-1pm - Our topic will be the construction of
I-94 and I-196. Bring your own photos and stories to share.

If there's a topic you'd like to suggest for a lunch with the Curator session, please let us know.

February 16 - Talk on Mary's City of David Vegetarian Restaurant

On Tuesday, February 16 at 7pm, Ron Taylor, Curator at Mary's City of David will give a presentation on Mary's Vegetarian Restaurant. For years the restarant served vegetarian meals to locals and tourists at Mary's City of David in Benton Harbor. Ron will discuss the connections between the agricultural efforts of the City of David, the food served in the restaurant, and the 1934 vegetarian cookbook that the colony published. Although the restaurant has closed the City of David continues to hold annual vegetarian luncheons in the building and serving Silve Queen drinking water that comes from springs on the site.

For more information on Mary's City of David please visit http://www.maryscityofdavid.org

Upcoming Winter Events

Speakers

Tuesday, February 16, 7pm, “Mary’s Vegetarian Restaurant,” presentation by Ron Taylor, Curator at Mary’s City of David, Benton Harbor. Hear about the
fascinating history of agriculture and the famous vegetarian restaurant and 1934 cookbook from Mary’s City of David. Free

Tuesday, March 16, 7pm, "Winemakers of North Berrien," presentation by Joe Herman, Karma Vista Vineyards and Winery, and by Tony Peterson, Contessa Wine Cellars, Coloma. Herman and Peterson will each discuss their family roots and their current work as pioneer winemakers in North Berrien.

Special Events

Friday, January 29, 12-1pm - Lunch with the Curator. Bring a brown bag lunch and join in on a lively history conversation. Our topic will be fallout shelters in North Berrien. Bring your own photos and stories to share.

Saturday, February 13, 1-3pm - Victorian Valentines Party. Enjoy games and refreshments. Be inspired by the museum’s collection of historic valentines and then make your own to take home. $3/person.

Friday, February 26, 12-1pm - Lunch with the Curator. Bring a brown bag lunch and join in on a lively history conversation. Our topic will be the construction of
I-94 and I-196. Bring your own photos and stories to share.

Traces of the Interurban Talk on January 19

The general public is invited to attend “Traces of the Interurban,” an illustrated presentation at the North Berrien Historical Museum to be held on Tuesday, January 19 at 7:00 pm. Director of Education Tracy Gierada will discuss the interurban railway service through North Berrien from the 1890s – 1920s, using images and stories to guide you through an imaginary journey on the line. Admission is free of charge.

The interurban tracks in North Berrien once ran from the twin cities through Millburg and Coloma, where the line split, with one branch terminating on the north shore of Paw Paw Lake and the other just north of the Paper Mill in Watervliet. Gierada’s presentation will retrace the paths of the interurban trains in North Berrien and consider them from the perspective of the people who lived through the era. Although little still remains in our landscape from this system, the green building in Coloma’s Lions Park is a rare exception as the only surviving interurban station in Berrien County. The attached image, “Arrival of Car at Interurban Station, Coloma, Mich.” comes from the collection of the North Berrien Historical Society.

For more information contact Tracy Gierada, Director of Education, at (269) 468-3330.