Northern Michigan in Focus: Lewiston Virtual Museum

It’s a town where its residents are very proud of their history. While the pandemic has changed their whole year, it’s not stopping them.

“We are very proud of this, we are very proud. We’ve gone a long way since 1975 when we met in Elbert Township Hall and talked about this,” said Linda Arbogast, president of the Lewiston Area Historical Society.

It’s the and part of the pride of the town. But just like a lot of other places, they decided to shut down this season.

“It was a terrible thing to be shut down. We love our visitors that come through. But for the safety of our staff and for visitors, we had to close,” explained Linda.

But that doesn’t mean nothing is happening.

“So we took this time to reassess short-term and long-term goals. We decided to reorganize, create new displays, improve the lighting in the buildings inside and out,” said Linda.

They’ve put in a new deck and are changing some exhibits, but the big change…

“Our website has changed, that’s the most exciting part. We are creating a virtual museum so you can go room to room to room and we’re taking videos of each of these rooms and hoping to focus in on one of these items for example, this is lovely stove here or even this organ, and then tell something about that,” explained Linda.

And they’re trying to find the stories behind the old photographs they have.

“We are planning to interview people who are currently in buildings that were worth something back in the turn of the century when the loggers came through, we’re calling that the Legacy of Lewiston,” explained Linda.

Because if you’ve never been to Lewiston, learning their legacy just might convince you to go there.

“Lewiston should have died when the mill left. It should have just folded and died, but it didn’t because of the pioneer spirit. You have to want to come to Lewiston, and if you do come to Lewiston, you make it a special place and you make it your own, even if it’s for an hour. It’s our town and you’re welcome to come and be part of our town and make it your town, too,” explained Linda.