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By LAURIE PERKINS
Southern Lower Peninsula historian
Michigan History Center
It's 8:30 a.m. on a sunny summer Sunday morning.
Park staff have just opened the gates at Cambridge Junction Historic State Park, which is nestled in Michigan’s Irish Hills, just south of Brooklyn, in Lenawee County.
Cars, trucks and vans begin to arrive, and their passengers unpack tents, tables, produce and craft items.
It’s farmers market day, and vendors quickly set up their booths for the shoppers who are beginning to arrive for the market’s 10 a.m. opening.
Rain or shine, vendors come every week from mid-May to mid-October. The market has a relaxed atmosphere, and visitors and vendors alike sip coffee and maybe pick up a baked good or two.
By noon the crowd has grown to between 400 and 500 people and the market is in full swing.
Around 1 p.m., the after-church crowd arrives, and the tempo inside the market changes again. Now everyone is in a rush to buy the last of the produce before the market closes at 2.
Then it’s over. Vendors pack up, and by 3 p.m. the park is empty and quiet.
Another Walker Tavern Farmers Market Sunday is in the books.
In 2008, the Friends of Walker Tavern, a volunteer-led nonprofit group that supports Cambridge Junction Historic State Park, organized and held a farmers market on the grounds below Walker Tavern.
It started as a small special event with just a few vendors, but now it has grown into a weekly staple welcoming more than 40 vendors.
Some vendors, like woodworker John McGraw, have participated in the market for more than a decade. McGraw has sold his decorative and functional birdhouses at the market for 12 years.
McGraw enjoys interacting with visitors and is also willing to discuss habitat needs of birds and the benefits of different types of birdhouses.
Local produce vendor Byron Sell is another longtime farmers' market vendor. He has been selling a variety of fresh produce at area farm markets for many years.
Sell is especially happy to return to the Friends of Walker Tavern Farmers Market this summer.
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“I enjoy the setting here,” Sell said. “The market is very open, and it’s nice greeting regular customers every Sunday.” Hundreds of visitors come to the market each summer to buy fresh produce and homemade crafts. Local resident and market master David Brainerd and his wife Marcy view the market this way: “We enjoy being a part of the history and natural beauty that comes with being a part of this historic site.” Marcy enjoys the weekly “creation” of the farmers market, which changes every Sunday. But most important are all the friends they have made who come every week to support the market. “We have become a family and enjoy being a part of this community,” Marcy said. A highlight of the farmers market for the Friends of Walker Tavern is the sale of their famous Walker Tavern Root Beer. What started as a tongue in cheek question by visitors – “If you’re a tavern, where’s the beer?” – became an opportunity to raise funds for the site’s education and event programing needs. In a long-standing partnership with Frankie’s Root Bier-Frankenmuth Brewery of Frankenmuth, the brewery bottles root beer under the Friends of Walker Tavern label. The Friends sell more than 7,000 individual bottles of root beer each year. Visitors buy the brew by the bottle or by the case during the market. “We have costumers who come to the market just for the root beer. Many buy it by the case near the end of the market season to stock it up over the winter,” said JoAnne Baty, secretary for the Friends of Walker Tavern. |
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“Walker Tavern Root Beer tastes great on the ‘rocks’ or over vanilla ice cream,” she said. About Cambridge Junction Historic State ParkCambridge Junction Historic State Park is home to Walker Tavern Historic Site, which is operated by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources’ Michigan History Center. Created in 1966, the park includes 80 acres of gently rolling hills, easy walking trails and outdoor picnic areas. The historic site takes its name from tavern owners Sylvester and Lucy Walker. Natives of Cooperstown, New York, the Walkers purchased the original tavern in 1843. Their wayside inn served thousands of travelers during the New England “Yankee” migration to Michigan in the 1830s and 1840s. The Walkers’ business boomed, and in 1853 they built a three-story brick hotel across the road from the original tavern. With the advent of the automobile, tourism in Michigan’s southeastern counties began to grow. Thousands flocked to the Irish Hills region not only to take in the picturesque views of its many lakes and rolling hills, but to see its newly created tourist attractions. Interest in Walker Tavern was reborn in 1922 when Reverend Frederick Hewitt purchased the site and turned the original tavern into a museum. The brick tavern became a restaurant and antique shop where Hewitt sold chicken dinners to his guests. Walker Tavern Historic Site is now the oldest continually operated tourist attraction in the Irish Hills. |
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In 2023, the tavern reopened with a new permanent exhibit about life along the Chicago Road during the Walkers’ time. The Hewitt House Visitor Center, also in the park, is home to an exhibit on early-to-mid-20th century Irish Hills tourist attractions, including the tavern. The Friends of Walker Tavern support the park and the Michigan History Center by hosting events, educational programs and tours, concerts and more at the park each summer season. You can see their full Cambridge Junction events calendar and opportunities to get involved at Michigan.gov/MHC/Museums/CJ. Learn more about the Friends of Walker Tavern on the group’s Facebook page. |
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