A little history from Marty Willim

My property in Karlin has been in the family since 1876 when the 40acres was bought off the Buckley-Douglas Lumber Co.

We refer to it as "THE FARM" because it was a working farm. They grew Tomatoes & Cucumbers for Hienz.

I have the hand written LAND CONTRACT from 1910 when my Great Grandfather bought the property off Anton Ziska (My great grandma's Uncle).

Grandpa bought it of his dad (my Great Grandfather) in 1954.

Grandpa gave it to Dad in 1986 as a Christmas Present.

When Dad unexpectedly passed away in 2014, I was Rights to survivor.

In 1988 Mom & Dad bought 2.5 on Nessen Rd what was referred to as "The Dance Hall). The wood foundation of the Township Dance Hall was still there along with the keys from the piano and the Woodstove 1/2 rusted away.

52yrs of spending time in Karlin, Interlochen, Buckely, Grawn, Honor...

Picture curtesy of Marty Willim.

If you zoom in on the pic with the Wagon, you see it reads "KARLIN U.S. MAIL".

Lady on the left is the original owner (great grandma's Aunt) The two girls in the cart are my Grandfather's older sisters. The Lady with the hat is my Great Grandma.

Kid with the Shotgun??? I have no idea and there is no-one around to answer that anymore unfortunately.

My Grandpa is NOT in the picture so I am assuming this is pre 1927 because he was born Jan 1927.

I have reached out to my Great Aunt (Grandpa's youngest sister and youngest of 7 kids) to get the birth dates of Fay & Doris. Great Aunt Marie is not the kindest of people unfortunately.

We account that to Great Grandpa being 68 and great Grandma being 48 when she was born. 

I have a lot of history of Karlin from Frank Sorna how recently passed away in December. Danny Zezulka has also shared a lot of history with me, he has a ton of Indian artifacts his Father & Frank Etawagisik "Frank the Indian" who had the Pigawatami Pottery store in Karlin, it was found in their field along the creek where there was an Indian camp. The Buckley-Douglas small gauge rail for hauling logs to Green Lake runs across Danny Z's and my Property as well as Archibald Cary's.

Frank told me you can still see the post from the rail dump for the logs on the shore of Green Lake on Cary's Property. I am going to try to connect with him so I can see it myself.

Dad & Grandpa had a good report with Cary Sr., I will give you any history I have or know as I would love to see it out there. I would really love to see a small Historical Museum for Interlochen and the supporting towns around it.

I made this for Maxx Albrecht. 1935 vs 2004, That was the Pigawatami Pottery.

Frank Etawagisik is up around Suttons Bay now I think.

Pigawatami Pottery building

I am happy for you to put this online, hopefully it will bring more info forward for you. I am NOT saying that everything I have said is fact but all this info was give to me by the older folks in the area.

The second picture, the house on the right was Albrecht's. Butch told me the story one evening about when the house blew up. He had only just walked out of the back door when it blew up. Very lucky.

There is a cement slab on the west side of Karlin Rd, just before you come to Betsie River Rd. My Great Grandfather owned 5 lots there and had the slab poured for a Gift Shop he wanted to build. He was a great painter and envisioned selling his painting and other painted items.

My Grandfathers history would take a good few hours to tell so it will have to wait for another day. He painted all the Murals on the buildings in the Detroit Zoo originally. Here is his employee pin, I still have it. Have a great day. Marty Willim