Little River School House / Isaac and Lucy Berry

The original, one-room, log schoolhouse on this site opened in 1877 under the direction of Isaac and Lucy Berry. The multi-racial community known as Little River raised the present building in 1905. It was the local school and community center until 1935. The Berry family landscaped the property around the lake, including the beach, calling it Pleasant View. They sold that land to Mecosta County for a park after Lucy Berry´s death. Isaac and Lucy Berry Born into slavery, Isaac Berry (1831 - 1914) escaped from bondage in Missouri to freedom in Canada in 1858. There he married Lucy Millard (1838 - 1928), a white woman he met while enslaved in Missouri. The Berrys moved to Morton Township in 1877 with other black and multi-racial families. They bought cutover land, and Isaac served as the postmaster, blacksmith and school director. Lucy became the Little River Schools first teacher.