The museum maintains collections that describe and demonstrate Benzie area life from before European settlement in the 19th century to the present day. Permanent exhibits include logging, the Ann Arbor Railroad and car ferries, camp and resort histories, home furnishings, and a Civil War collection that honors locally raised Pulitzer Prize winning historian Bruce Catton. New exhibits being designed and implemented in 2008 deal with the history of the native peoples and the Con-gregational colony of Benzonia. The Society maintains a large and growing archival collec-tion of pictures and documents that preserve and explain the family, religious, and economic history of the area.

The Drake School, located in the orchards and farmland of Platte Township, offers elemen-tary school children the chance to spend a day at school in 1900. With slates, slate pencils, straw hats, bonnets, and old fashion games, children and teachers immerse themselves in a rural, one room schoolhouse curriculum.

The Benzonia Academy Lecture Series, held in conjunction with the Mills Community House, continues the tradition of the Benzonia Acad-emy (1863-1918), which was founded to bring modern education to Northwest Michigan. Through this series the Society offers free lectures to the general public on national, international, and local history.

As a member of the Benzie Area Historical Soci-ety, your financial contribution and sustained giving aids in the preservation and promotion of Benzie history. This includes the continued conservation of the museum building contain-ing the artifacts, exhibits, and archives, as well as supporting an active educational program of events, lectures, and activities for people of all ages.

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