Thursday, August 1st beginning at 7 pm, Valerie van Heest will speak in the Pump House Museum and Learning Center on the topic “Lakewood Farm and Zoo Discoveries”
Ms. van Heest discovered that a 46-year-old single woman purchased the property along the Lake Michigan shore, built a mansion, created and operated a farm on the property – and that was in a time before women could even vote!
Ms. van Heest will explain how George Getz came to buy this operating farm from the woman perhaps as a response to President Theodore Roosevelt’s call to people to not live in big cities, but to live in the countryside and grow crops. This was part of the “Country Life Movement”, the positive effects of which are still being enjoyed today!
And Ms. van Heest will explain when and how Mr. Getz started to collect exotic animals, how that grew to become the second largest privately-owned zoo in America and finally what became of the animals when the zoo was closed.
The doors of the air-conditioned Pump House Museum and Learning Center will open at 6 pm for this event, the fourth in our series of six live speaker events this season. Come early to secure a good seat. The program begins promptly at 7 pm, and there is no admission charge.
