saugatuck-douglas historical museum

Two " museums" , The Old School House ( 140 W Center St) and Museum ( 735 Park Street). Are both free, have changing displays and are historically educational! Sponsored by the Saugatuck Douglas Historical Society, monthly meetings, summer "Tuesday Talks" and "Root Camp" ( for children) are offered. All are volunteer covered/ led .

Small museum - about 3000 square feet inside but had interesting environmental displays outside about different types of trash and their varying decomposition rates. Wonderful gardens of flowers along the steps and paths. Interesting local history info about sand dune formation on the lake.

This is a very small museum, but it does have a lot of information on the local history. They also have "I Climbed Mount Baldhead" T-Shirts for sale in the gift shop.

I keep trying to arrive, when the building is open.(but) the noon- to 4 p.m. time slot is an awfully tight fit. The outside of the building is absolutely beautiful!

While my partner climbed the stairs to Mount Baldhead, I took my time walking by the Harbor and seeing the Historical Museum. The exhibit was nice, I loved the interactive historical map, but in particular, the museum employee (volunteer) was so nice, knowledgeable, and showed a genuine love for the area. It was a great little pit stop.

We were at Mount Baldhead Park and wondered over to this Museum to take a peak. It was closed and we were there on a Saturday afternoon, peak season. I guess they really want to preserve what is inside.

Free museum in which to check out local history. Right at the bottom of Mount Baldhead so you can enjoy both excursions in one afternoon. We took the Chain Ferry across ($1 per person each way!!!) from the main town. I appreciated that the person that was working in the museum tried to engage the kids in a treasure hunt inside the museum.

The Saugatuck-Douglas Historical Museum has another location apparently recently opened in the Old School House on Center Street in Douglas. First I will say that the building has been gorgeously restored and has a lovely garden with a totel pole and fishing boat display outside. We stopped by when visiting Douglas as I had a historical question. Unfortunately most of the information and literature seems to be about Saugatuck. In addition the young woman who was there at the time was not very knowlegable about Douglas and suggested that we look through the many books on display for our answer. She said they usually tell visitors to look through the books. Perhaps we would have had better luck at the library across the street but we were running out of time. Hopefully the museum has other employess/volunteers who have some knowledge of the town.

The Saugatuck Douglas Historical Museum is a gem. The villagers who donate endless hours to create this museum and archive the duel villages historical contributions, should be proud. Perfectly and beautifully maintained, you enter the site located on the waters edge nestled between the Oval Beach, Mount Baldy and the Kalamazoo river. Serene is the first emotion and then ones' curiosity takes over. So much history of the area is presented yet it is done so tastefully and orderly one still remains relaxed. Informal & quaint, the history as shown by pictures, stories, recordings, artifacts, & art taken from the villages since records began are available to view. The Museum is run by the S & D Historical Society. They also contribute and maintain history/get-acquainted walks, meetings, and group restoration projects. Landscaping, flowers, fountains & statues around town are also their contributions & responsibilities. The Museum is a must for any age & you leave feeling a bit of the pride generations have had in their Saugatuck & Douglas home.

Pretty setting for this Historical Museum. It is quite small and you can cover everything in under 45 minutes.Colorful garden on the waterfront and looked like local fisher families set up just a few feet away from the museum.They do offer cold water and T-shirts proclaiming "I hiked the stairs at Mt. Baldy"... and it is an accomplishment to climb the 302 stairs to the top!

Very interesting place, especially if you are a long time Saugatuck visitor. Exhibits are very high quality, especially considering this is a two room museum with no entrance fee.

Museum was small, but covered quite a bit of information about the history of the area. "Gentleman" at the desk was at best unresponsive and at least cranky when asked a question he felt the displays adequately covered. It was fun to take the cable ferry across, but we really more just stumbled on the museum rather than having information that it was there.