North Unity School

North Unity schoolhouse in fall.

NPS credit

Quick Facts

Location:

44.933497, -85.908147

Amenities

1 listed

Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits

The North Unity School is located just east of Narada Lake, just north of M-22 near the end of the wooden bridge of the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail where it crosses the wetlands of Narada Lake. It was an early building of the community of North Unity.

North Unity, a community of immigrants, largely from Bohemia, (the western half of the present Czech Republic, bordering southern Germany), was where Shalda Creek empties into Lake Michigan.
It had a schoolhouse, sawmill, and store. In 1859, it was awarded a post office. John Shalda built a gristmill on the Lake Michigan outlet of Shalda creek.

The North Unity School was built around 1856 of the horizontal log construction that is to traditional the Czechs and Bavarian Germans. The logs were close-fitted so that the top of one rested on the log below it for its full length with only an occasional small gap. The corner notches are interlocking dove-tail joints. The dove-tails were cut with a saw. The school has been restored to its original log appearance.

The school was located about 1.5 miles south of the center of town, likely to either accommodate farm children dispersed at considerable distances from the shores of the Lake or because of the availability or price of land
The North Unity School is ideally accessed from the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail.