PENTWATER BUILDING STORIES — the barn at the RIVER HOUSE FARM
The River House Farm Barn is the iconic landmark, on Monroe/business route US 31, that welcomes visitors to Pentwater. The solidly built deep red barn was constructed by lumber baron Charles Mears in 1862 of native hardwoods harvested from the local virgin forests. These were cut into 44-foot lengths, hand-hewn beams, and wooden peg fasteners. Tamarack posts were used for the roof supports. River House Farm was part of a noble experiment by the innovative pioneer who staked his fortune on the idea that Oceana County could become the fruit belt of the region. He began with thousands of fruit trees imported from Chicago on the land that remained after the native trees were harvested for lumber. Charles Mears planted peach, plum, pear and apple trees for this new experiment and began putting up buildings on the site, located on the banks of the Pentwater River overlooking Pentwater Lake. After it became a model fruit farm, according to his daily diary entries, Mears would often visit the River House Farm on his trips from Chicago.
Mears also erected structures for the family he hired to run the operation and for the farm hands who boarded there. On August 27, 1867, the year the village was incorporated, a Justice of the Peace, David Darr, married the River House Farm’s 30-year old caretake, a former lumberman, Frank Hirner to twenty-year-old Mary Aichler. The wedding took place in Mason County and both were natives of Germany. Under their management, River House Farm gained fame as the first major fruit farming operation in Oceana County. They brought some of the first and best varieties of peaches by wagon to sell in the village each season.
When the farm had finally ceased operations, many of the trees in the apple orchard still bore fruit. Carrie Mears still owned the property she had inherited from her father. The occupants of the farmhouse in 1956 were Mr. & Mrs. Charles Jensen. That year they escaped unharmed with their daughter Sanda when it was engulfed in flames. The Pentwater Fire Department was notified by a passing motorcyclist but the house could not be saved. A few years later, in 1963, only the barn remained and it was used for the storage of picnic tables during the winter months when the Charles Mears State Park was closed. Local artist and former Chicagoan, Kitty Kokx (Edith Mae Proctor) imortalized the red barn, as part of a collection she painted of delightful scenes of Pentwater. Kitty vacationed here from Chicago, until high school when she moved to Pentwater full-time with her mother.
Today the Barn is a reminder of innovation and the importance of preservation. This iconic structure has a newer roof courtesy of the Pentwater Historical Society, and there is a recognition that the Barn could be instrumental in teaching historic building techniques and tools, for example, the adz, ax, and saw. State barn preservationists and the local Michigan Conservation District have at times expressed interest in working with the Pentwater Historical Society to save this iconic landmark, but the future of this now deteriorating structure is uncertain.
SOURCES:
Pentwater 1853-1942 by Florence R. Schrumpf. 2nd Printing 1993 Oceana Herald Journal.
Pentwater Historical Society Newsletters: https://pentwaterhistoricalsociety.org/newsletters.html —
“Meet Kitty Kokx—a Notable Pentwater Artist,” by Ed Bigelow, Pentwater Fall Newsletter, November 2008.
Newspaper Articles—
”February is Noted Month of Romance,” by Lenore P. Williams, Ludington Daily News, 2/11/1954.
Charles Mears Diary in “Reminiscences of Pentwater” by Lenore P. Williams, Ludington Daily News, 10/25/1949 and 3/5/1950.
“Freesoil Township 115 years old this year,” by Lenore P. WIlliams, Ludington Daily News, 10/17/1957.
“Old House: Landmark is destroyed by Fire,” Grand Rapids Press, 2/19/1957.
Oceana Herald-Journal, July 20, 2017.