SATURDAY, Sept 16

Ongoing – Traditional Craft Demonstrations

Blacksmithing, Spinning, Cooking and more!

Ongoing – Old-fashioned Toy Area

Play with 19th Century toys. Make a toy to take home.

Children’s Chores Area

Pitch in and help with chores that children did in the early 1800s!

10:00a.m. – Flag Raising Ceremony – Boy Scout Troop #172.

11:00a.m. – Hoop & Stick Race

11:30a.m. – Stilt Walking Competition

1:00p.m. – Learn to play Schoolyard Games

2:00p.m. – Candle Dipping - $2.00 donation.

3:00p.m. – Make a Corn Husk Doll - $ .25 donation

4:00p.m. – Hay Bale Toss (16 Years and older)

5:00p.m. – Closing

SUNDAY, Sept 17

Ongoing – Traditional Craft Demonstrations

Blacksmithing, Spinning, Cooking and more!

Ongoing – Old-fashioned Toy Area

Play with 19th Century toys. Make a toy to take home.

Children’s Chores Area

Pitch in and help with chores that children did in the early 1800s!

12:30p.m. – Learn to play Schoolyard Games

1:00p.m. – Hoop & Stick Race

1:30p.m. – Make a Corn Husk Doll - $ .25 donation

2:30p.m. – Candle Dipping - $2.00 donation

3:30p.m. – Hay Bale Toss (16 Years and older)

4:00p.m. – Apple Stringing

5:00p.m. – Closing

SOUTHSIDE PARK LOG CABIN

During this year’s Home Tour, history will come alive at the Log Cabin. Step back in time and explore the life of Milford’s early settlers as you visit the Log Cabin in Milford’s Southside Park. Visit with the blacksmith, spinner and chandler as they work. Watch a traditional meal being prepared over an open fire with vegetables freshly harvested from the garden. Learn a game of long ago and test your skills on stilts or in a hoop and stick race. Help with chores, make an old-fashioned toy or join in a traditional harvest contest. Be sure to stop by and join in the fun!

The Log Cabin is located in the Southside Park on the land that was originally platted in 1836 by Jabesh Mead. Mr. Mead intended this property to serve as a public square for the community. Most of the earliest buildings in the village faced onto this square. The first frame home in Milford (1836) still stands on the northeast corner of Washington and Dean streets, still facing the square with its back to Dean Street! Dr. Foote’s first home and office was built on the square, as was the first store, Mead & Arms. (The Mead & Arms building was moved three times and is thought to be the current Milford Glass building on Main Street at the Huron River.) As the village grew the public square plan was abandoned and later houses were built facing onto the streets. The public square today remains as it began, except for the land used to build the fire station on the west side. The land was never graded to conform to modern standards and the maples and pine planted there are now mature trees.

In 1982 during Milford’s Sesquicentennial Celebration a group of volunteers built a log cabin on this property to help residents picture what life was like in the 1830s and to pay tribute to our pioneer heritage. The logs used for the cabin were cut from the Beach Tree Farm in Highland when a road-widening project dictated clearing trees blocking the new route. The Log Cabin, small by today’s standards, would have housed a family of four or more and would have been plenty of room for eating and sleeping the entire family. The volunteers used their own tools, their know-how and energy to produce the log cabin that is standing today. Last year a fence was added by Eagle Scout, Wes Wenger, and Boy Scout Troop #172. Step through the gate to view a kitchen garden of traditional herbs and vegetables planted by Milford Historical Society members.