Glen Haven Cannery and Boat Museum

A most welcoming building.

NPS credit

Quick Facts

Amenities

4 listed

Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Picnic Table, Water - Drinking/Potable, Wheelchair Accessible

By the 1900s D.H. Day owned Glen Haven, 5,000 acres around it, 5,000 cherry and apple trees, a farm with hundreds of hogs, and a massive lumber company. Day was a visionary. He could see that the demand for lumber was falling rapidly, and he would need to diversify. So he started a canning company in the building that had been used to house items to be shipped. The Glen Haven Canning Company processed cherries, raspberries, and peaches and shipped the finished canned goods to Great Lake cities.

Attempting to diversify the town's interest further, Day and the residents of Glen Haven promoted the area's natural beauty. Day worked to draw visitors to the area, helping to build M-109 and M-209, the highway from Empire to Glen Haven, and donating land for Michigan's first state park, which is now the D. H. Day Campground. Day's vision also included building the Glen Lake area into the most exclusive resort in the United States. However, the Great Depression and his death in 1928 put an end to that plan.

The Cannery Boat Museum currently displays a variety of older boats ranging in size and technology from the Anishinaabek dug-out canoe to U.S. Coast Guard TRS motorized surfboat.

A wayside in front of the cannery entitled, "Fruit to go," tells the story of the cannery's fruit packing history.