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Who We Are

Delta Kelly, Barbara Kandarian and Jeanne Phillips founded the Oakland Township Historical Society in 1974. Our mission is to gather, interpret and preserve the history of Oakland Township. The Society leases part of the 16-acre Cranberry Lake Farm Historic District in township-owned Cranberry Lake Park. The farmstead buildings are being restored for a community historical center for meetings, events and displays of our collections of township artifacts and used by the Oakland Township Parks & Recreation Commission.  The Farm is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and has a Michigan Historical Marker as a designated historic resource.

What We do

• Cranberry Lake Farm Historic District restoration
• Township-wide farm and barn survey and documentation
• Oral Historic Archive project
• Monthly programs including field trips, a picnic, potlucks, speakers and fun!

Annual Events

• Autumn Antique Appraisal Day
• Rochester Heritage Festival - Memorial weekends
• Rochester and Orion holiday parades
• National Trails Day
• National River Day
• Goodison Good Tymes
• Parks & Recreation Commission Winter Carnival

 Publications and Promotions

• 'A Footpath thru Goodison History' – a Walking Tour Brochure, $1.00
• 'Heritage in Oakland Township' – a booklet, $5.00
• Oakland Township Scenes note card set by local artist Lyn Sieffert
• Historical map of Oakland Twp. from Settlement Days, $2.00

The Society is proud to have supplied the winning name to Delta Kelly Elementary School.

The Society provides excellent programs on the first Wednesday evening of the month at the Paint Creek United Methodist Church – Clarence Kremer Fellowship Hall at 4420 Collins Road in historic Goodison. See the map.

Field trips are scheduled in October and May.  Meeting notices are sent to members with the Oakland Heritage News Update. 

We hold fundraisers including Autumn Antique Appraisal Day in the Fall.  Members supply a perennial plant sale at the Rochester Heritage Festival in Rochester Park over Memorial Day weekend with displays of our local history. 

We participate in Goodison Good Tyme in September.

Members promote the Society with award winning float entries in the December holiday parades in Rochester and Lake Orion.

Farm and Barn Survey
Our barn survey team has completed documenting and photographing 62 farmsteads with at least one barn over 50 years old.  A computerized slide show presentation is available to other groups for a fee of $75.  Barn and farm documentation includes site plans, structural details of barns, and history of the site.  It fills 22 notebooks.
The MSU Museum requested townships to complete the Michigan Barn and Farmstead Survey because these sites are fast disappearing.

Oral Histories, Documents and Artifacts
The Society is recording and transcribing oral histories of longtime residents and we welcome photographs, documents, household furnishings, farm tools and other artifacts that reflect our heritage.

Currently all stained glass in the state is being documented by the MSU Museum in the Michigan Stained Glass Census. We would like to include more stained glass in our township in this census. So far, the historic Paint Creek Methodist Church windows(left) and the Paint Creek Cider Mill restaurant windows(right) are in the census.