Scenes from the 150 Year Nautical Celebration including people, boats, a musician, the Chicago Corinthian Heritage Fleet filmed by Sindy. William Filbert lifeboat. Interviews of sailors at the festival and Chuck Lorenz at the faux lighthouse near the Red Dock. If you have more information about this event, please send it to the SDHC Archives at [email protected].

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Interview with Abigail DeYoung conducted by her niece Peggy Boyce in 1992 when Abigail lived in a house at SE corner of Water and Lucy. The corner and house is shown in the introduction. The interview begins with Peggy naming students listed in the 1918 SHS yearbook, when Abigail was a Sophomore. Abigail recounts two sets of twin in the school that year, Triangle Athletic meets (compositions between the Douglas, Fennville and Saugatuck High Schools), competing in basketball (forward) at the East Shore Skating Rink with Julia Funk as center, working as a telephone operator with her sister Irene, getting 10 cent sodas at the Parrish Drug Store, the fire at the D.L. Barber store, the wooden sidewalks being replaced by concrete, the sprinkling wagon that kept the dust down on the (as yet) unpaved Butler Street, hitching winter rides by standing on the blades of horse-drawn sleighs, Bob Moore having first car in town, collecting river ice in the winter to save for warmer weather, river pollution in the 1930s and 1940s, the terror of hearing the fire bell before the establishment of a city water system, the limited electric hours, earning $1 a day as telephone operator, the Interurban, seeing steamships coming up the river, taking the William Cary launch to get to beach, the three Oval Beach beach houses, the bathhouse at Douglas beach, canoeing or rowing on the river before any seawalls were installed, the loss of her hand-painted rowboat, sledding on the village streets when there were less cars around, an example of the rich social news in the July 1930 Commercial Record, the propriety at the Big Pavilion except when Jackson Park and Columbia yacht club racers were in town -- they were allowed to wear their sailing clothes.

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ALBERT HUGH CRANE The Peach Orchard History and the WWII German POW Camp Now in his mid nineties, Albert Crane is still both physically and mentally active despite being retired from full-time farming. He continues to run his large bulldozer-tractor with the claw he invented (but not patented) to assist in local tasks. His memory of family history details as well as current events would be remarkable for a person half his age. His home, the former Harrison Hutchins house, was purchased from his father, H. Blakeslee, along with three acres. Albert lived there with his wife, Letha (Hicks), until her passing in 2007. Albert is the eldest child of H. Blakeslee and Muriel E. (Smith) Crane and grandson of John H. and Hattie Blakeslee Crane. Brothers Edward and John Calvin were deceased at young ages, but sisters Shirley, Emilyn, and Elizabeth are still living. Albert and Robert (Bob) Crane are the primary Crane family fruit orchard farmers. Albertʼs grandparents, John and Hattie began the Crane farm with the purchase of 63 acres to which he eventually added 120 acres he rented from his parents, 50 of which he turned to a fruit orchard. He studied the cultivation and marketing of fruit to pass down the family generations, becoming one of the largest shippers in Allegan County. He is reputed to have bought a 165 acre tract of land in Cuba before the revolution. Subsequently Blakeslee and Muriel Crane added most of their current acreage including the Harrison Hutchins farm in 1916 and continued expanding their products. While young brother Bob served in the Navy (USS Kearsarge) from 1948-51, Albert remained on the farm during WWII to produce food for the country and war effort. He has many happy memories and delightful stories of farm life. One special memory is of the German POWs who were interned at Camp Lakewood near Allegan and transported to the area orchards to help pick fruit. Albert befriended one of the POWs whom he later had as a house quest and visited in Tasmania. This history is recounted by Albert in the 2nd Movie in his DVD. In this video oral history interviewʼs first episode, Albert explains tells the story of the rise peach orchards in the area from the time of his grandparents. In the second video episode he provides interesting stories of farm life in the 1930-60 era. Pictured at right is the team that conducted the interview with Albert. Albertʼs nephew Charles Carlson and SDHS landscape designer, Ruth Johnson along with Ruthʼs daughters. Regarding the Peach orchard history, Albert takes us back several generations. His grandfather was instrumental in discovering both the value of the glacier produced moraine hills and valleys, fertile soil and proximity to both Lake Michigan and Hutchins Lake cool breezes. These conditions served as a perfect location for growing peaches. He also remembers how the family came to use a mechanical auger to dig the holes for the tree planting, greatly reducing the previous manual shoveling time and cost. Albert is known for his large tractor to which he added a claw many years ago to move large trees. The claw predated the ones later used by the bulldozer industry. Albert was interviewed in his home and the photos below give some exposure to the interior and exterior of this now 24 room home that he shares with his daughter and son-in-law. The surrounding gardens are exquisite. Albert, at age 95, was a gracious and most informative host. J.Shack

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Presentation about area boats by Kit Lane, author of "Built on the Banks of the Kalamazoo" at the SD History Museum. [synopsis needed] - [if you found this video informative, consider sending your summary of its content to the SDHC Archives at [email protected].]

The Lane Years with The Commercial Record Soft-spoken but detailed and articulate, Art Lane takes us through his years as owner and editor of the Commercial Record in the first video episode. This includes Art and spouse Kitʼs interest in moving north to avoid the Southern Illinois summer heat, the reasons for choosing the CR and its purchase. This was followed by a walk through the broadened news and editorial coverage, printing mechanics, staff expansion, marketing, and how a week of getting out a weekly newspaper in a small but sophisticated town is experienced. Further on in this episode he describes his formal (Michigan University) and informal journalism training in the field at several small and large newspapers. He also describes how he met his wife, Kit, after her Michigan State degree in journalism (and a three month post graduate tour of Europe) when working for the same newspaper. In the second episode, Jack asks Art to trace his most memorable experiences. Interestingly he cites the introduction of Coho Salmon into the Kalamazoo River as a local culture changing incident as it converted the old commercial fishing industry folks into purveyors of sport fishing, thus bringing more people to the town. He also extols the Saugatuck-Douglas community continuing virtue of ready acceptance of all cultures. In the third episode Art takes us on a virtual tour of all the past building sites of the Commercial Record and describes how the buildings were used.

[synopsis needed] - [if you found this video informative, consider sending your summary of its content to the SDHC Archives at [email protected].] Life-long resident Beatrice "Bee" Finch.