Sleeping Bear Inn Landscape Vision
Yesterday, the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (SLBE) leadership team sat down with BEAR and Landscape Architect Frank Clements to review the landscape plan. The plan shown above is based on a comprehensive Cultural Landscape Report for Glen Haven Village commissioned by SLBE and the National Park Service in 2007. The team found the plan favorable and has sent it to their Regional Office for final approval. Although the plan is difficult to interpret without the narrative, a few highlights include:
- the interpretation of the old narrow-gauge rail in the upper right hand corner; the introduction of boardwalk to match the existing boardwalk on the east side of the village
- a re-introduction of trees that were once existent and taken out by a storm
- replacing the non-historic concrete porch on the south side of the Inn with a wood deck made accessible with a ramp from the Garage parking lot
- replacing the asphalt Garage parking lot with Grasspave or similar; providing a path to the knoll depicted in the upper portion of the plan
- adding low level native shrubbery around the Inn; and replacing the rock that once defined the Inn property from the road
- Additional features include the inclusion of hammocks and a seating area for Inn guests in the area around the existing lilac and the ability to add rented tents to that area and the area on the north-west side of the Inn for weddings and other occasions (depicted by the dashed lines)
- We also intend to place planters with red geraniums on the sides of the existing entrances just as they were in the past
This plan is a phased approach as we will not be able to add all of the elements this year due to the cost of this plan and the renovation. It is the vision of our future and how it will incorporate into the larger vision of a future Glen Haven.
Just how many hours does it take…to completely renovate a window?
I was asked this very good question by Dave our volunteer this past week and so I calculated it. For us, it takes 16-20 hours of active labor to complete the following process. First, the window and the hardware are removed and the window opening is boarded. The hardware goes into a crockpot with dawn dish soap (what doesn’t that stuff do?) for 24 hours and after it has cooked, the paint covering the hardware slips off and then they can be polished. The window is placed into a specially made by George steam chamber for an hour. After it has been steamed, the old window glazing and caulk is removed and the glass is freed. The window frame is dried and then scraped, sanded and primed after which the glass is reset and glazed. After several days of drying the window is ready to be painted and then reset into the window opening with the cleaned brass hardware. The result is pretty stunning and we hope when you sit on the porch next to one of the 34 windows to enjoy your lunch, you will notice these beautifully restored 100 year old windows! Thank you to everyone who has had a hand in helping with this process and is willing to continue to do so! We are about halfway done.
Did you know…
The sun came out yesterday? It has been a long time since the clouds gave way over the village and it was wonderful to see it shine through those restored porch windows.
