Date: January 23, 2007
Contact: Tom Baker, Management Assistant, (906) 337-1104, ext. 131
Keweenaw National Historical Park and the Keweenaw NHP Advisory Commission announced the designation of nineteen Copper Country organizations to the new Keweenaw Heritage Sites program. The sites will assist the National Park Service in providing interpretive services to park visitors by relating various elements of the area's copper mining heritage. Sites provide visitor services ranging from guided tours to opportunities for self-exploration of the nationally significant story of copper mining on the Keweenaw Peninsula.
The designated sites include the A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum in Houghton; Adventure Mining Company in Greenland; the Calumet Theatre; Chassell Heritage Center; Copper Range Historical Society in South Range; Coppertown Mining Museum in Calumet; Delaware Copper Mine Tours; the Finnish American Heritage Center in Hancock; Fort Wilkins Historic State Park; Hanka Finnish Homestead Museum in Pelkie; Houghton County Historical Society in Lake Linden; Keweenaw County Historical Society in Eagle Harbor; the Keweenaw Heritage Center at St. Anne's in Calumet; Laurium Manor Mansion Tours; Ontonagon County Historical Society; Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in Silver City; Quincy Mine Hoist Association in Hancock; the Society for the Restoration of Old Victoria in Rockland; and the Upper Peninsula Firefighters' Memorial Museum. The nineteen sites were selected from a field of twenty-two applicants, and will become official sites pending the signing of an official agreement between each site, the Keweenaw NHP Advisory Commission, and the National Park Service.
The sites will be eligible for a variety of technical assistance services from the park and/or the Advisory Commission, and, as funding levels allow, financial assistance to achieve the joint objectives of the sites and Keweenaw National Historical Park. New sites may be added in the future as interpretive needs and gaps are identified, and as the capacity to provide services is expanded by the park and the Advisory Commission.
