SIBLEY-HOYT HOUSE TOURS

We are working hard to get our house ready for its bicentennial in 2020 as well as some needed renovations such as a new front porch floor. Based on all of my research to date the beginnings of this house, a cabin and Pontiac Company farm on ten acres was built in 1819 or 1820. It is the oldest house in the tri-county area and believed to be the oldest continually occupied house in MIchigan. We hope to have several events and tours in 2020. Stay tuned for updates.

The release of the photographic history book on Pontiac I worked on with Arcadia Publishing, and the Oakland County Pioneer & Historical Society, is the result of over a year's worth of work, but doesn't include a lifetime of accumulating history on our city. It is supported by almost two decades of research on the Sibley-Hoyt House alone, my home. The publishing of this work strives to meet a few goals: record history on the founding of Pontiac that was previously unknown, record history on the Sibley-Hoyt House that came to light in my research, promote and raise funds for the Oakland County Pioneer & Historical Society, raise funds to purchase a state historical marker for the Sibley-Hoyt House, and most importantly, tell stories about Pontiac, Michigan. While we haven't raised enough funds to purchse the large Michigan historical marker we did pay for one of the Motorcities Wayside Exhibits that is mounted at the old Christ Science Church at Wiliams and West Lawrence Street.

WEST BLOOMFIELD and the TRI-CITIES

In 2010 I completed a photographic history of Pontiac with Arcadia Publishing. After working on the Motorcities National Heritage Area there were great resources at my fingertips for doinig another history on my childhood community of West Bloomfield. On January 12, 2015, this new photographic history was published and includes the communities of Keego Harbor, Orchard Lake, and Sylvan Lake.

PONTIAC MOTORCITIES PROJECT

In fall of 2011 I volunteered to be part of the Motorcities National Heritage Area Wayside Exhibit project. I was told there were only a couple of  months for me to find sponsors for these roadside exhibits, affiliated with the National Park Service. Thirty-six months and over 80 sponsored signs later we finished having these signs designed and fabricated for installation in our communities. Fifty-six of them are now located within the city limits of Pontiac, with others in neighboring communities Sylvan Lake, West Bloomfield, Farmington Hills, Wixom and Highland. They tell the stories of automotive and labor history here in Southeast Michigan, where this heritage area is located, and is unparalleled. To find out more go to www.motorcities.org.             _______________________________

Here's one of our Wayside Exhibit images. What is it you ask? This car is called "The Pontiac". It was built twenty years before the Pontiac of GM. It was Pontiac, Michigan's first Pontiac. This is one of four left, owned by Mark Thomas. The company who built  it was Pontiac Spring & Wagon Works. They would be responsible for building Rapid Truck into the largest truck manufacturer in the world, that would later become GMC Truck.

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CROOKED HOUSE LIBRARY for Men

Inspired by the Little Libraries in Madison, Wisconsin I built a library on my back fence for all the transient men that travel and live in this corridor. It continues the legacy of the Sibley-Hoyt House owners' community activism. The reason it is focussed towards men is because we men don't read as much as we should and some men are even timid about picking up a book. So the invitation is prominent hoping to encourage non-readers or infrequent readers to pick up a good book. It's open to all.