Step Back In Time – Hancock Street History Stroll

With its popular History Cruise concluding its five-year run last summer, the Pentwater Historical Society will now offer a “Hancock History Stroll” on Mondays and Thursdays, beginning June 23 through Labor Day. Free, one-hour strolls will depart from the top of the Village Green at 11 a.m.

They are timed so that Farmers Market patrons can conveniently join the stroll either before or after shopping. What a great way to recall Pentwater’s past, or learn more about our rich history.

Strolls will be led by a volunteer Pentwater Historical Society docent, who will describe things that occurred on six blocks of Hancock Street over the years. Much of the narrative is drawn from past newsletters that are posted on the pentwaterhistoricalsociety.org Website, under the Research heading. The info being shared is just the tip of the iceberg of Hancock Street’s rich history. Strollers are invited to share their personal memories on the Pentwater Historical Society Museum’s Facebook page.

The History Stroll begins at the top of the Village Green. Folks will leisurely walk three blocks south to Fifth Street, cross Hancock, walk four blocks north to First Street, cross Hancock again, and end at the Village Green. Topics include the great fire of 1889, the “White Elephant,” Pentwater’s silent movie house, John Cahill’s saloon, the “finger factory,” the 400-seat Faulkner’s Opera Hall, the murders of 1896, Esther Dempsey’s information booth, a try at manufacturing airplanes downtown, what “GAR, 61-65, WRC” means on the boulder at the corner of Second Street, and the hotel with an outdoor goldfish pond.