Treat Farm flowers. Photo: Lynn McAndrews
By P.G. Misty Sheehan
My favorite place to walk in spring is at the Treat Farm, part of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The farm is located south of the village of Empire on West Norconk Road, west of M-22. Park your car at the bend in the road and hike gradually uphill on a former road, now a gravel path, through the woods.
Here, the roots of spring flowers have been gathering energy and nutrients during winter under bands of snow. Wildflowers are among the first harbingers of spring, letting us know that the beech-maple forest is about to bloom again. This first flowering period is a transitory event taking place between the rains of April and the full forest cover of June.
You’ll find lots to observe along your hike. The best time to visit is usually in May, when you might see yellow trout lily, hepatica, Solomon’s seal, spring flowered buttercup, trillium, Jack-in-the-pulpit, columbine and wild iris.
Past the woods, when you reach the top of the gentle hill, you can explore the large farmhouse, barns, garage, root cellar and old sheds of the former Treat Farm. The 220 acres Charles and Martha Treat purchased were originally part of the Tweddle Farm, where John Tweddle built a log cabin in 1840.
The Treats grew crops to feed themselves, including beans, potatoes, rutabagas and asparagus ⸺ an Empire area crop growing wild in ditches and the inspiration for Empire’s annual asparagus festival. They also ate fruit from their apple and plum trees. Corn and hay crops were fed to their cows and horses.
If it isn’t too hot and you’ve rested at the farm, you can walk a half mile up Old Baldy, a giant sand dune, to the cliff above Lake Michigan. When visiting later in the season, watch out for poison ivy on the overlook. (Voice of experience.)
P.G. Misty Sheehan is a retired professor of humanities and the former executive director of the Benzie Area Historical Museum.
