Chris Hendra took a break from his usual wildlife photos, when he attended the Heikkinen School Open House recently. Here’s what he had to say about attending this event: ”Some photos from the Heikkinen School open house yesterday commemorating 25 years since its closure. It was like stepping back in time! Initially, I didn't bring a camera in, I just wanted to check it out. Five feet in the door I was thinking, I need to go get my camera! For those not from the area, it's located between Toivola and Misery Bay. They will have an All-school reunion in 2027 celebrating 110 years of the current Heikkinen School building. Hats off to the Penny family for keeping it intact, it is really cool to see!” As an added note, the Heikkinen School was closed in 1999 due to low enrollment and cost per pupil to operate. It is now a school museum owned by the Dale Penny family.

Michigan Nature Association presents: Last of the Giants. Saving the Estivant Pines in Copper Harbor. The lead-in to the video says: “In 1973, a group of concerned citizens helped to raise the necessary funds for the Michigan Nature Association to successfully acquire land in the Keweenaw Peninsula that was slated to be logged. Now, 50 years later, we look back on how saving the pines has impacted the community.”

Those wooden desks bring back memories
although ours were not fastened together
on rails, they were free floaters and we were
constantly moving them to straighten the rows.
I tried to find Estivant Pines once but they
there was a lot of logging going on with new
roads and lots of red arrows. Got turned
around and finally gave up. Progress
doesn’t always work out the way that
you’d like and can cause you to loose
your way.

…and BTW; had many an impure thought
regarding that paper/body part slicer. Shame
on me for making that recipe book.

Weekday awesome pictures. Pretty
sure it sends most of us back in
time.

Didn't spellcheck my words. I
don't know how "what" got changed
to "weekday".

How cool is that!! My friend's family owns the
Heikkinen Family Homestead close by...it's a
beautiful old family home...lots of bedrooms,
etc...And when family comes up to visit...they get
the house....

We had exactly those kind of desks in our parochial school, grades 1 thru 8. They were fastened to the floor and there were about 40 desks in each classroom. Reminds me of the Sisters of Mercy who taught school there. But they frankly were anything but merciful as I recall very well! We got poked with their pointer sticks if we got out of line in any way! They couldn't get away with any of that today for sure.