Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore - Our Partners (U.S. National Park Service)

There are several organizations that have established a special relationship with Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore to enhance your experience at the Park. Some of them are located within the Park in Visitor Centers or historic farmsteads. A list of these organizations with a short description and links to their web sites is provided below.

Eastern National is a private, non-profit organization that provides quality educational products and services to park visitors. A portion of the proceeds are donated back to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore to support interpretive and educational programs. They operate the Bookstores at the Philip A. Hart Visitor Center, The Dune Center, and the Glen Haven General Store.

Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes... helping to preserve and restore the natural, cultural, historical, and recreational resources of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

The Friends work in co-operation with the National Park Service by raising funds through donations and grants and by volunteering time and skills to complete a long list of projects proposed by Park Management.

The Glen Arbor Art Association has been working with the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore to restore Thoreson Farm, one of the historic farms in the Park. The objective is the development of a site which can expand GLAA programs such as Artist-in-Residence, summer workshops and Manitou Music Festival events to be enjoyed in beautiful surroundings where the previously decaying buildings will be restored and preserved for the nation and future generations.

Heading to North or South Manitou Island? Access to the islands is by either private boat or by passenger ferry operated by Manitou Island Transit. The ferry service operates from the Fishtown Dock located in Leland, MI. The ferry operators have been servicing the islands for many generations and the company is still run as a family business.

The Manitou Islands Memorial Society helps preserve the history and cultural traditions of the Islands, distributes educational and interpretive materials and programs, keeps records of burials and gravesites of original settlers and others interred on the Islands, promotes the proper care and maintenance of the Islands' historic and cultural assets, and supports the Park Service as volunteers on the Islands.

If you are interested in preserving the cultural history of this area, check out Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear. Stop by their office at the Olsen Farm in the Park on M-22 north of Glen Arbor.