A long time ago, a fella had an idea to connect the Crystal Lake in Benzie County to Lake Michigan. At that time, Beulah was called Crystal City and didn't have railways or much of a beach at all. Thank God for ole Archibald Jones and the Tragedy of Crystal Lake!
Because of this, and the development of a beautiful downtown area right by the beach, there is certainly a fine library downtown as well, called the Darcy Library. This is the new Beulah Library. See that garage door on the building behind the library? The old library shared the village office building and was packed full of great books but not much space.
Darcy Library
The library is spacious and comfortable, with a great selection of music CDs and movie DVDs as well as a wide selection of books for all ages. There is even a wonderful area to enjoy reading magazines and newspapers:
Inside the library there is a colorful welcome: The art reaches right out to you! There are Native American sculptures inside and out, with a beautiful sculpture out the door on the downtown side of the library. The library kind of reminds me of a crazy quilt inside, fun and active. |
| The view from the front door towards downtown. |
This was copied from the library's website under Library and Garden Art. Simple and beautiful!
It is called Tribes of the Great Lakes, by Freddy Joseph Raphael
 |
| This is the children's area. |
The thing about Darcy Library is the reason behind the name. You see, Darcy was a little dog that welcomed patrons and made reading fun! As mentioned below, Darcy served for 17 years as a therapy dog. There was a lot of love in this compact rescue doggie, and it is a fitting tribute that the library bears her name.
 |
| borrowed from the Darcy Library website
Darcy has passed, but her legacy lives on with Rosie! Rosie reads with youngsters who come in and visit the library on Thursdays. That is to say, the little ones read to Rosie. Either way, she is a real delight!
Cora Baker and Rosie, photo shared with her daddy's permission.
Now, for us history buffs, there is a great treasure at Darcy Library that I have yet to really explore! The Helen Tanner personal research library and maps are housed in a special room. Her field of expertise was in the Native Americans of the Great Lakes region. So many treasures, including maps carefully kept in special file drawers. When she initially began her research, there really wasn't much written about the Great Lakes tribes.
   
This room is full of treasures to hunt through and so much to learn.
So, when you visit Beulah, make sure to find the library and enjoy all the treasures within, living, written, or created.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment