Gingerbread Brunch and Family Hour 2011

Julie Allen and Holiday Market took the prize for Best of Show at
Gingerbread Brunch IV
 hosted by the Friends of Preservation Bloomfield

Here's a link to more photos:  Carol DeWeese's Album

Live Auction Added to Gingerbread Brunch

Two "Don't Miss" items will be sold
to the highest bidder at a live auction
 to be held at the Gingerbread Brunch
on Friday, December 8.
Written and sealed bids are being accepted

up to the time the auction begins
which is expected to be around 11 a.m.

To purchase rapidly evaporating tickets to attend the brunch,
contact Pam Budde
248-642-7806 or pambudde@msn.com.

To submit a sealed bid or bid by phone during the auction,
 contact Bee Engelhart
 248-647-5606 or bengelhart@comcast.net

Don't Miss Bidding on these Items!

4 Club Level Tickets, Lions versus San Diego Chargers

Section 233, row 2, seats 12, 13, 14, and 15

38" tall tabletop tree lushly decorated 360 degrees
around with exquisite wine-themed ornaments 

Gingerbread Brunch & Family Hour 2011

Heralded as one of the "sweetest events" of the holiday season, our annual Gingerbread House Brunch is scheduled for Friday, December 9 from 9:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. at a local country club. More than two dozen whimsical gingerbread houses created by local professional and non-professional pastry chefs will be on display, judged for awards and available for purchase through a silent auction, along with many other unusual holiday decor and gift items. The Brunch, emceed by Fox News celebrity Monica Gayle, will offer gourmet fare.

This annual event has been so well received that a "Family Preview Evening" for parents and their children will precede it on Thurday, December 8, from 5:00 - 8:00 p.m. This family event includes a dinner buffet with Mr. and Mrs. Claus, plus crafts, games and an opportunity for budding chefs to decorate a gingerbread creation of their own.

Funds raised at the Brunch and Family Event will help the Friends of Preservation Bloomfield continue the restoration of the historic Barton Farmhouse located at the Charles L. Bowers School Farm in Bloomfield Hills.

Tickets for Gingerbread House Brunch, chaired by Deneil Dall'Olmo, are $75. Tickets for the “Family Preview Evening," chaired by Carol Shaya, are $60 for adults and $30 for children. For location and to make reservations, call 248.594.0692 or 248.642.6923.

Both events are sponsored by HOUR magazine.

Evening at Highgate

Bobbi and Stephen Polk invite you be
their very special guest for 

"An Evening at Highgate"

Friday, September 30, 2011

6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

111 Lone Pine Road

Wine & elegant hors d'oeuvres

Roaring 20's dress encouraged . . .  not required

Entertainment by pianist Curtis Posuniak

Assisting are Bobbi's fellow Friends of Preservation Bloomfield and party planners extraordinaire,
Duffy Wineman, Nancy Boos, Patti Jessup, Judy Anderson, Carol Shaya, Shirley Maddalena, Sue Nine and Pat Hardy

 Proceeds from this ticket only event benefit the work of Preservation Bloomfield to restore and preserve
 the Barton Farmhouse and the Craig Log Cabin 

$125 per person

R.S.V.P. to Patti Jessup at: patjessup@aol.com
Tickets are limited!

Corn Roast 2011

Attendees of the 2011 Corn Roast were able, for the first time, to walk on the newly installed plank floor of the Craig Log Cabin and view the interior renovations (as well as the exterior ones) that have been made in the past year. The seed of the idea to hold the first Corn Roast in 2009 was to pay the expenses of maintaining and repairing the cabin and since then, the event has grown in scope and size. Kudos to the board of Bloomfield Preservation which includes representatives from The City of Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township, Bloomfield Hills Schools, Bloomfield Historical Society and the Friends of Preservation Bloomfield for planning and executing a top-notch event.  Click on the video below to see more of the Corn Roast 2011.

Corn Roast 2011




click on the above poster to enlarge

 
Sponsors Needed

Preservation Bloomfield is a consortium of the City of Bloomfield Hills, the Township of Bloomfield, the Bloomfield Hills School District and the Bloomfield Historical Society, formed and responsible for saving and moving the historic Barton Farmhouse and the Craig Log Cabin to the Bowers School Farm in 2008. It works in tandem with the Friends of Preservation Bloomfield, a group of dedicated volunteers, to raise funds for the restoration of both buildings, which will ultimately be used for the educational and social enrichment of the community- at- large.

This coming Sunday, August 2l, the Board and the Friends will hold their annual Corn Roast fund raiser at the farm, and it is our hope that you will consider joining our fund raising efforts by being a sponsor of the Corn Roast at the $100 level. If you contribute to the event, your name/logo will appear on the Schedule of Events each attendee will receive upon arrival, as well as on a large poster board near the sign-in table for participants to see, and two complimentary adult tickets will be reserved for you.

The enclosed flier lists some of the enjoyable activities taking place that day. Joining us on site will give you a perfect opportunity to see the progress we are making on these two historic treasures and meet others who are helping us achieve our restoration goals. Every penny raised brings us that much closer to officially opening our doors for community enjoyment.

Thank you so much for considering our request!

Sincerely,

Friends of Preservation Bloomfield

Beehive Ball IV

May 2011, The Village Club

SAVE THE DATE! BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW! DONATE!

The Bees are Buzzin' for Beehive Ball IV!

Friday the 13th could be your lucky day . . . that’s if you come at 6 pm on Friday, May 13, 2011 to Beehive Ball IV at The Village Club.  Similar to last year, the evening will include a silent and live auction, a seated dinner, entertainment by Rennie Kaufmann and a few surprises.  We’re counting on you to come to the Ball and bring friends.  You won’t be sorry!

The Auction Committee needs traditional silent auction items such as theme baskets, gift certificates, theatre and movie tickets, restaurant certificates, wine etc.    We will take anything you have to offer—cooking classes, golf outings, bridge lessons . . .  no good deed, idea or item will be turned down.

Naturally, we also need items for the Live Auction — once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, a stay at a vacation home, popular sports tickets, and golf outings are always popular.   A Mystery Trip to Hamtramck or some other destination might be fun.  Auctioneer Ed Cherney intends to keeps it lively and fast, because, if the past is any predictor, our items will be few but good.

If YOU help, we’ll all benefit, but the happiest recipient will the charming little Barton Farmhouse located at the Bowers School Farm since all proceeds will go toward its restoration.

Contact us to attend or donate

Tickets 
c% Pam Budde
pambudde@msn.com
248-642-7806
   

Sponsorships and Donations

C% Patti Jessup, co-chair

patjessup@aol.com

Publicity

Lisa Yamin, co-chair
lisa.yamin@gm.com

Other

Bee Engelhart, chair
bengelhart@comcast.net

A House For A House

The Detroit News

December 6, 2010
Section: Features
Page: A2

The Friends of Preservation Bloomfield held a Gingerbread Brunch last week and drew a full house of 250 people. For some, the main object was to raise money to restore a log cabin and a farmhouse that have been in the area for 160 years, which is even longer than Bill Bonds.

A house for a house Neal Rubin The Detroit News

For others, it was to stare slack-jawed at the wonders chefs and bakers can create with gingerbread, spice drops, peppermints, frosting, slivered almonds and some architectural blueprints, plus expertise and about 12 hours.

As someone who leans strongly toward saving history instead of bulldozing it, I wondered how the Friends of Preservation made their case in an era of troubled economies and cranky citizens.

As the most uniquely unqualified of the three gingerbread judges, I bake even more poorly and rarely than I cook.   I also wondered how the heck the sous chef from the host Oakland Hills Country Club built a 5-foot-tall Eiffel Tower. The tower only earned an honorable mention, a solid indicator of how spectacular the other entries were. It was an eminently fulfilling morning, even if the gingerbread houses aren't edible and I couldn't stay for the crepes.

Sweet, sweet details

One of the other judges was Michael Koch, a vice president at the Morley Candy Co. "It's amazing what they can do with frostings," he said at one point as he poked at a peppermint-striped pillar.  

The third [judge] was Daniel MacLeish of MacLeish Building in Troy. "From a technical standpoint," he said of the Santa's Workshop by Melanie Weidmayer of Manchester Bakery, "she got it right."    He was particularly taken by the supports in the corners and the tools hung on the walls. For posterity's sake, there may be gingerbread historians taking note.  Weidmayer won second place, behind a sprawling mansion by Patricia Duda of Pine Lake Country Club that used ribbon candy as smoke rising from the chimney.

In the gingerbread game, much as in historic preservation, it's about the details.  If you are replacing logs on the Craig Log Cabin, for instance, you need to chop down the trees in the winter, when the sap has fled the wood. Not only are the logs less likely to warp that way, they're lighter to carry.  Smart folks, those settlers -  - which is one of the things the preservationists like to be able to point out.

Learning from the past

The Gingerbread Brunch raised $20,000 or so toward the renovation of the cabin and the Federalist-style Barton Farmhouse. Both have been relocated to the Bowers School Farm, a land laboratory for Bloomfield Hills Schools that's said to be one of only three working school farms in the United States.

The Friends of Preservation Bloomfield use only private money, providing a level of immunity from any grousing about who needs some old dumb farmhouse anyway.  Other worthy projects in less tony areas might not be able to say the same, but there's a value to being able to compare then and now. "We need to understand how ingenuity has helped us grow," said school board member Cynthia von Oeyen, and how we've grown, period. Those ceilings seem low for a reason.

Christine Zambrecki, the former Henry Ford Health System COO who chaired the event, said she has given long thought to the term "landscape" and decided she's a bigger fan of the second syllable than the first.

Scape is a sense of place, she said, of culture and history and belonging. "It's preserving the human-ness of a place," she contended.

That's not always easy, either with wood or with gingerbread and shredded coconut, but it's worth it.

nrubin@detnews.com

(313) 222-1874

Neal Rubin

Barton Farmhouse Gets New Windows

http://vimeo.com/14036244

Thank you to our many supporters for making the window replacement possible.

Save the Date for Beehive Ball III Friday, May 14, 2010

Beehive Ball III will be held on Friday, May 14th, 2010. Information and the invitation/response card can be found in the Preservation Bloomfield Newsletter link to the left of this article. To attend, please print a copy of the RSVP card, and return the card and your check to: Christine Zambricki, 1770 Hillwood Drive, Bloomfields Hills, Michigan 48304. Feel free to note any special requests for seating when sending in the response card.

Tickets are $75.00 (patron) and $100 (benefactor) and include a lovely evening of h'or douvres, dinner, silent and live auctions, music and dancing and best of all, happy times and fun. Watch for the beehive themed cake designed by a local world-renowned sugar artist.

This annual event is the premier dinner/dance organized by the Friends of Preservation Bloomfield. Fund raising has never been so much fun and this is a great chance to see neighbors and friends while at the same time investing in our heritage through ticket sales.

The Village Club provides a perfect setting for an evening of cocktails, dinner, dancing and a spectacular silent auction. We are happy to announce that Rennie Kaufman, will provide his unique and talented one man band entertainment. Rennie is well known in our community as the musician who can play anything and make it sound great.

Beehive Ball lII - Save the Barton Farmhouse!

Friends and supporters are flocking to the BeeHive Ball III, the annual major fundraiser for Preservation Bloomfield. The event will be held at the Village Club on Friday, May 14th from 6 - 10pm. Everyone interested in our historical roots is invited to join the fun.

The Barton Farmhouse Project

The story of all great civilizations can be told through their art and architecture. The Barton Farmhouse is telling ours. The simple, Greek Revival lines of the house reflects the ideals of a young, struggling nation, less that fifty years old when the house was built. It is representative of the ideals of democracy and the eagerness and determination of the populace that moved into the unsettled Michigan Territory.

The hand-hewn beams were made from natural resources that were once bountiful but are no longer available. The simple, yet strong, mortise and tenon construction show the craftsmanship of a vanished skill. A name etched into a window pane marks the joy and aspiration of a young woman on her wedding day. The care taken as the house expanded and aged tells us that beauty and culture were appreciated.

The lives of the families who have called the Barton Farmhouse "home" give us a glimpse of the development of the Bloomfield area as it evolved from farmland to a fashionable "country" address to a suburn neighborhoods.

On November 10, 1821, John Wetmore of New York registered his purchase of 160 acres on (what is now) the south side of Long Lake Road between Kensington and Squirrel roads. Some time later, Wetmore sold the property to a young James D. Benjamin.   Most likely it was Benjamin who built the original farmhouse.  It was constructed in the Greek Revival style, the dominant American domestic architecture of the period between 1830 and 1860. Greek Revival was so popular that it is known as the National Style.

Bloomfield was a quiet rural farm community. Until well past the Civil War, Oakland County farmers tilled more land than in any other county in Michigan, grew more potatoes, corn and wheat (exported to world markets as a top-grade product). They churned more butter and herded more cattle.

That was about to change.  Detroit was a city of 50,000.  From the mid-1850s, Detroit experienced rapid growth. George Hendrie, with several friends, arrived in Detroit from Canada and assumed an important role in the industrial development of the city. They became prosperous multi-millionaires as Detroit grew to more than a million inhabitants and transporation between Detroit and Blomfield improved. 

The prospect of an easy commute to a "country home" set the stage for large farmsteads to be converted to country estates.  A 1920s edition of "The Social Secretary" lists: "Country Home: Hunting Hall, RFD No. 2, Bloomfield Hills". That was the home of George Hendrie's son William who located next to his brother George Trowbridge Hendrie. Their spinster sisters Margaret and Sarah acquired the nearby farmhouse (now the Barton Farmhouse) and many of the surrounding acres.  They called their country estate The Covert.   The Hendrie sisters were well-educated and world-traveled, and brought much to the community.

Across Long Lake Road was the Bloomfield Open Hunt Club. The original 1834 Hagerman farmhouse had become its first clubhouse. John and Mary Pathcet arrived in Birmingham from England in the 1830s with their son David and his young family. Two of David's daughters, Elizabeth and Emma, married into other early families - the Hagermans and the Heacocks - and located adjacent to the Farmhouse. George Trowbridge Hendrie and his brother William were on the founding executive committee. Riding trails ran throughout the area.

In 1937, Margaret Hendrie and her sister Sarah sold The Covert and several acres to Carol O. Barton who with his family treasured the house and its nearby 25 acres for seventy years. Bloomfield Hills had become a city. Barton was co-founder of the internationally known Barton Malow construction company which the year before had just achieved more than a million dollars in sales.  During the years that his family owned the house, the company continued to grow, weathering the Depression and the Second World War.  Barton was known for his honesty and for his ability to infuse his company with the essence of his personal philosophy, civic mindedness and philanthropic principles which continue through today.

In           ,                         purchased the property and graciously offered the Barton Farmhouse to the community for $1.   The Friends of Preservation Bloomfield were assigned the task of raising the funds to move the house from its original location to the Bowers Farm which is owned by the Bloomfield Hills School District and located about one mile north on Square Lake Road.  The house is currently being renovated with a historical approach. The Barton Farmhouse Project will be funded by contributions from private citizens, businesses and charitable foundations.

Craig Log Cabin Restoration in Full Shave

Kevin Brennan shaves a winter-cut log

 As the sap begins to flow in area trees, Kevin Brennan, a craftsman working on the renovation of the historic Craig Log Cabin, explains that the best time to cut down trees for a log cabin is in the winter, when the sap has gone out of the trees. “The logs are less likely to warp, and they’re lighter." Brennan was passing along this bit of woodland lore as he used an aged, but well cared-for, Wilkinson draw knife or bark-shaver on a winter-cut log. It would replace one of the 150-plus year-old original logs in the log cabin that had finally succumbed to the effects of weather.

In less than a month the log cabin, one of Bloomfield Township’s oldest structures, should be looking more presentable. It was moved last fall from its original location on Lone Pine Road to a new home on the Bowers Farm. Along with a few replacement logs it will also have a “new” roof of reclaimed hand-hewn cedar shakes. Still more restoration work will be done as additional funds are raised.

The cabin and the Barton Farmhouse are projects of Preservation Bloomfield, a joint effort of Bloomfield Township, Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Hills Schools and the Bloomfield Historical Society to preserve some of the area’s past to inform its future.

Kevin and Team Replace a Log

Old and New Tools

Bloomfield Township

August 27, 2008

Township agrees on spending to save log cabin

By Eric Czarnik
C & G Staff Writer

BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP — An old log cabin will get a new home on the Bowers School Farm after the Township Board of Trustees voted unanimously on a bid project to relocate the building.

The log cabin has stood near Lone Pine and Franklin roads. The property owners want to redevelop the land and are donating the cabin to the farm, which is owned by Bloomfield Hills Schools.

Township Supervisor David Payne said preserving the cabin is worthwhile because it was built in the 1830s and is part of the area’s history. “It’s one of the oldest structures in the township,” he said.

According to Payne, Bloomfield Township agreed to pay for the cabin’s move because of an approaching Aug. 31 deadline. But in the long run, the township does not expect to be holding the bill.

“We have an agreement with Preservation Bloomfield to reimburse us for the cost over a period of time,” Payne said.

Preservation Bloomfield, a fundraising group, wants the cabin on the farm because it can teach children about life in the old days. For the same reason, the group was behind the successful push to move the 1832 Barton Farmhouse from Bloomfield Hills to the Bowers Farm. The farmhouse’s oldest two sections were transported to the new site by truck in July.

In early August, the township received two construction bids for the cabin relocation, and officials picked the low bid of Brock & Associates of Novi. The company wanted $49,700, whereas Peerless Improvements Inc. of Bloomfield Township wanted $61,760.

During the meeting, Township Clerk Jan Roncelli wondered why Frank Rewold and Son Inc. did not bid, since it just handled the Barton Farmhouse relocation. “I thought they would’ve given us a great deal,” she said.

But consultant Gene Hopkins said the company’s involvement would’ve probably raised the price tag despite the project’s small scope.

The cabin relocation will remove the house’s roof and fireplace, the latter of which was deemed anachronistic. The building will travel to the farm and be placed on new foundations. The company will also place temporary roof protection on top of the cabin to protect it from the elements.

“We’ve done the minimal amount to get it there, stabilize it, weather-proof it and make it secure for future reconstruction,” Hopkins said.

According to a map provided with the plans, the cabin will go to a spot on Bowers Farm east of the farmhouse, the windmill, the root cellar and the gazebo. Hopkins said the cabin could amplify the farmhouse’s ability to teach children.

“It could be a natural progression in the chronology of the community,” he said.

Typically, a pioneering family would build a log house as a short-term dwelling place and would later build a farmhouse once the property prospered, said Pam Carmichael, head of the Bloomfield Historical Society. Although the log cabin and the Barton Farmhouse were built by different people, she said the two types of buildings share a story about the Bloomfield area’s first settlers.

“The fact that it still exists in this period of time is really unusual,” she said.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Eric Czarnik at eczarnik@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1058 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            (586)498-1058      end_of_the_skype_highlighting.