A 40-acre parcel along Stony Creek was donated in 2022. Plans are underway to open up Stony Creek Nature Preserve to the public in 2024!

Description

The Stony Creek Nature Preserve is a 40-acre parcel of land in Benona Township owned and managed by Oceana Conservation District. The property was donated to the district in 2022. Staff and volunteers are currently inventorying the flora and fauna present on the site and developing a forest management plan. Over the next two years, staff will be working on improving access and developing trails and signage. The district plans to hold educational events and hikes at the nature preserve including birding field trips, snowshoe hikes, owl prowls, forestry discussions, and more!

Visitors

The Stony Creek Nature Preserve will not open to the public until trails are established and a parking area installed. Plans are to open the nature preserve to the public in 2024!

History

When the 40-acre parcel that will be named “Stony Creek Nature Preserve” opens to the public in 2024, it will be the final, wish-fulfilling chapter in a family story that began over a 100 years ago.

The Morse family came from England, settled in Maine, and gradually dispersed westward. Charles Morse left Maine and settled in Allen County, Indiana but later decided to join his father and brother in Michigan who had migrated to Benona Township. It was in the early 1880s when Charles boarded his wife Mary and their three children—Georgiana, Harvey, and Thomas—on a train bound for Shelby, while Charles drove a team of horses 250 miles north with the family’s belongings. Charles and Mary’s son Thomas eventually married Alice Culver of Hart and they became partners with his parents on the family farm.

Thomas Morse acquired this 40-acre parcel in 1913, while three cousins acquired nearby property. Thomas was a hard-working farmer and retreated to the parcel to be alone—sometimes to cut wood that he would split, stack and sell, and other times for trout fishing he cherished.

Thomas and Alice’s daughter Gladys grew up on the Benona Township farm and occasionally visited “The Woods” with her father. Gladys Morse attended Michigan State College (now MSU) where she met Howard Hunter. One day after they had been dating off and on for a while, Howard asked Gladys for a date, but at the time he was in Lansing, and she was in Shelby. As if to test his resolve, she suggested they go fishing. When he agreed, she said, “Be here at 4:00 a.m.” Howard arrived, sleep deprived, and asked Gladys to marry him—proposing on the bridge which still exists across the creek that splits the property from north to south.

Howard and Gladys had three children—Stan, Judy, and Tom—who have fond memories of the property and for many years maintained an annual summer tradition of gathering their families together at “The Woods” to camp, fish and explore. Stan claims that the property hosts the largest beech, hemlock and yellow birch he’s ever seen. Judy cherishes the moments she spent molding clay soils along the creek and refers to it as the “most peaceful place imaginable.” Tom remembers his “Grandpa Tom” cooking fresh brook trout on the wood stove. All three siblings remember finding the carcass of a bear cub when they were walking in the woods together.

The daughter of Tom and Nancy Hunter, Cindy Hunter Morgan, who is now an accomplished poet, recalls her sense of isolation as she explored the ravines between the creek banks. She visits her favorite creek-crossing log annually and refers to “The Woods” as “a magical place; a place of deep quiet and stillness.”

Gladys was deeded the property and passed it on to her children Tom, Judy and Stan. Fulfilling Gladys’s wishes to never sell the property, but rather protect it so that others could enjoy the specialness of the place, the land was gifted to Oceana Conservation District in 2022. Cindy says, ”In the day and age when the magic of quiet is hard to find, our hope is that this will remain a place where one can hear and feel the quiet.”

The Oceana County Conservation District board, staff and volunteers will spend the next two years assuring that the new Stony Lake Nature Preserve is just that kind of place. We are grateful for the family’s trust and confidence in us to preserve, what is sure to be, a local gem.

Donate

Oceana Conservation District is seeking donations to assist with the installation of signage, parking, and trail maintenance.