Photo courtesy of Keweenaw County Historical Society The historic 1927 school in Gay, in Sherman Township, is the least visited historic sites owned and maintained by the Keweenaw County Historical Society.

EAGLE HARBOR – The Keweenaw County Historical Society (KCHS) is seeking new members as well as volunteers to help at any and all of its eight historic sites and 11 museums scattered across the county. Most of the sites will open the week of June 14 and close in mid-October.

KCHS Board Trustee and Curator at the Eagle Harbor Historical Museum Dorothy Jamison said people do not need to become members but they typically do and that’s why they volunteer.

Like so many other organizations throughout Keweenaw County, Jamison said the organization is seeking to attract younger people.

“This may not be politically correct, but our current volunteers are all getting older,” she said. “We’d really like to get younger ones interested who will be around for years to come.”

Jamison said some of the site directors are also getting older and their numbers are decreasing.

“We’ve lost a couple this past winters,” she said, “so yeah, we want to get younger members and younger people involved in preserving the history of Keweenaw County.”

Part of the challenge with attracting younger people is Keweenaw County’s population is largely older to begin with, she said.

“Mohawk and Allouez Township have a younger demographic,” Jamison said, “but look at the demographic of Keweenaw County – it’s definitely not younger people.”

According to USA Facts, with approximately 37% of the county’s population 65 years and older, there are approximately 807 residents aged 65 and older, of a population of about 2,186. Mlive reports that Keweenaw is one of only nine Michigan counties, and one of three in the Upper Peninsula, where the senior population exceeds 30%. The median age in Keweenaw County is 57 years, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Volunteers may have a deeper interest in one site than another, and volunteers can absolutely choose among the eight historic sites and 11 museums to volunteer time and energy, said Jamison. They can also volunteer for the many projects the Society has going on.

Jamison said KCHS is also seeking volunteers to assist in developing and the offering of KCHS Adventures in History workshops for students and adults, as well as helping with exhibit development. museum management, and building and site operation and maintenance.

For those who enjoy historical research and writing, the KCHIS’s quarterly publication, Superior Signal, welcomes submissions from volunteer writers, or serving as a reporter or photographer for the publication or the society’s web site.

As for sites and museums, some sites are more visited than others, said Jamison. While the church museum at Phoenix and the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse complex receive heavy visitor traffic, the Bammert Blacksmith Shop, on M-26 between Phoenix and Eagle River is often overlooked. The historic school building in Gay, in Sherman Township, sees very few visitors.

“That’s because Gay isn’t on everybody’s path,” said Jamison, “and we want to really get visitors there.”