Hesler Log House

The Hesler house is a rare surviving log house dating from the early settlement of the Old Mission Peninsula. From 1854 to 1856, Joseph and Mary Hesler built the house of hand hewn pine and hemlock logs fourteen miles south of here on the eastern shore of the peninsula. Joseph and Mary, from Canada and Ireland respectively, were among a number of Irish, English, Canadian, and Scottish immigrants living in the southern part of the township in 1860. Completed in 1856, the Hesler Log House typifies the first shelters built by early pioneers. Faced with acres of forest, they cleared their land, built a house with the timber, and planted crops. The Heslers sold the house in 1866. During the next 125 years it served as a private residence, housing for migrant workers, a school, and quarters for a bull. When the house was threatened with demolition in 1992, citizens rallied. The building was moved to this site and restored.