Thanks to coverage in The Lake Orion Review, the Franklin Settlement sign has found a perfect home.
Members of the Orion Historical Society in September began searching for a new home for the sign they salvaged from the old camp site on the south shore of Long Lake when Robertson Brothers began developing it.
Since that time, it has been in storage waiting for the right opportunity to present itself.
Out of four responses to the coverage in September, the interest shown by representatives of the Shores of Long Lake Homeowners Association was deemed by OHS to be the most appropriate.
The association’s proposal was to return the sign to its original site. While it won’t end up exactly in the same spot, society members were more than happy with the solution.
On a cold and snowy December day, members of OHS joined association members to haul the heavy 20-foot by 3-foot sign out from storage. It took all seven to heave the heavy sign up onto the pontoon trailer.
‘It’s a good thing we had snow so we could slide it along the ground,? Duane Ordakowksi, a society member, said. ‘We wouldn’t have been able to carry this thing at all.?
The team unloaded the sign at the top of the pathway that leads to the neighborhood beach and was glad to see it was downhill from there.
Except for a near encounter with a runaway sign, it was laid to rest without further incident next to the pavilion. The sign will be restored and mounted next summer.
Neighbors gathered and drank coffee and cocoa as they made further plans for the sign.
‘It just seems like it’s meant to be here, near where it originated,? Alisa Long, an association member, said.
Camp Franklin was the summer home to many kids from the inner city who otherwise would never have had such an experience. It was open from 1921 until 1991 and was an extension of Franklin Settlement, Inc., Michigan’s first social settlement.
The sign is a physical reminder of a special place in Orion history.