Plainfield Grand Rogue Historical Society

10/12/2026

PUMPKINS WANTED! Do you have carved or uncarved porch pumpkins of any size decorating your porch for Halloween? We would love if you would donate them to us! Please bring them on the morning of November 1st so our team can use them for PUMPKIN SLICE! Swords and Pumpkins! that afternoon!

10/08/2026

We are deeply saddened to announce to our members the death of Roger Larsen, husband of PGRHS Treasurer Louann Larsen.

Roger was well known to us, someone we called on when we needed anything -- from moving a piece of furniture, repairing a broken something, showing up to raise an exhibition tent, always full of energy and good humor.

A friend to all who knew him. We will miss him tremendously. Our hearts go out to Louann and the Larsen family.

To read his beautiful celebration of life and memorial information click on the link.

View Roger Larsen's obituary, send flowers and sign the guestbook.

09/28/2026

Pumpkin sponsor wanted!!

We are preparing for our annual event, Pumpkin Slice! But since this will be the day after Halloween this year, we won't have the usual week to pick up leftover porch pumpkins. So, we are hoping to find a local pumpkin farm within Plainfield who might be interested in sponsoring our pumpkins this year! So, dear friends, do you have any connections to a local pumpkin farm who might be interested in helping?

09/23/2026

Thanks to all who volunteered to raise tents, supply food, Docent for our guests, and especially those members of the Military History Academy, who provided education and entertainment as Revolutionary War reenactors. Plenty of musket fire and marching! Plus, our visitors learned about the life of the Continental soldier in George Washington's army.

Also, special thanks to our reenactors who stayed to helped us tear down the tent and we didn't even ask!! They just jumped in and started working away!

Thanks to PGRHS Board Member Jerry Berg for the contacts and experience to make it all happen! Let's go even bigger and better next year!

09/13/2026

This weekend is the Special Revolutionary War Encampment going on today from 1PM - 5PM. The members of the Hyser Rivers Museum garden committee were out Friday morning to clean up the garden and do some serious weeding! Thanks to members of the Kent Garden Club, President Bonnie Monhart and Kathy Smith, as well as those volunteers shown here: Jeanne and John VanKammen, and Marilyn McGraw. It was amazing what we accomplished in less than two hours! Once the weeds were gone, the mulch went down, assisted by PCT employee John, who did a beautiful job!

Special thanks to John Venman of Venman's Lanscaping in Rockford for the beautiful hydrangea!

Drop by this afternoon to admire our lovely pollinator garden -- the backdrop to the free encampment exhibits, and of course the Hyser Rivers Museum Open House. Take some pictures of your own!

09/07/2026

The monthly membership meetings return to the Plainfield Charter Township board room Tuesday, September 8 from 2PM - 4PM! Join as for interesting conversation, historic topics, and great refreshments!

SPECIAL EVENTS IN SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER

This month, we look forward to exciting events ahead with our special two day Hyser Rivers Museum Open House featuring the Revolutionary War reenactors encampment Saturday, September 11 from 11am - 5PM and Sunday, September 12 from 1PM - 5PM, when we'll be joined by members of Rogers' Rangers Jaeger's Battalion.

We're also planning the October 13 meeting on the road with a special tour of the historic Haadsma Dairy Farm!

09/03/2026

Influencing 1776: How the Great Lakes Anishnaabek Helped Shape American History by Eric Hemenway

11:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Monday, October 19, 2026

Room 2263
Russel H. Kirkhof Center
GVSU Allendale Campus

The Great Lakes tribal nations were instrumental in the eventual creation of the United States, through decades of warfare. From the French and Indian War to the War of 1812, Anishnaabek forces from Michigan fought a series of wars to protect their rights and homelands. These actions taken by these Anishnaabek warriors not only helped shape America but the fate of their respective nations. The event will be held on the Allendale Campus in the Russel H. Kirkhof Center room 2263. The talk will begin at 11 a.m., followed by a light, catered lunch at 12:00 p.m.

Eric Hemenway is a member of America250MI, Michigan’s official State Committee for the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the United States’ founding. He has done extensive public history work regarding Indigenous people in the Great Lakes. This has included creating exhibits, document collection and preservation, writing educational publications and curricula, and working with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

This event also appears on the main events calendar tagged as academic, america250, brooks, food, history, indigenoushistory, int100201, kutsche, and localhistory.

Contact
[email protected]

(616) 331-8099

08/29/2026

We recently celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Hyser House moving to its new home on West River Dr. NE to become the Hyser Rivers Museum.

We are privileged to have one of the original members of the first PCT Historical Commission, Sharon Wells, currently continue to serve on our Plainfield Grand Rogue Historical Society Board of Directors -- that's FIFTY YEARS OF SERVICE!

Thank you Sharon, and all the community members who have given their time to preserve this unique part of history -- the only historical site in Plainfield Charter Township sanctioned by the State of Michigan.

07/09/2026

Going through the books in our archive collection always pops up some fascinating things! How about some c. 1916-1918 hand drawn sketches of the Catholic Central High School logos and pennants in the back pages of an old schoolbook! 🏫 ✏️

06/27/2026

On July 8, 1776, when Colonel John Nixon first read the Declaration of Independence aloud in Philadelphia’s State House Yard, he wasn’t simply announcing a break with Britain—he was voicing a radical idea: that legitimate power comes from the consent of the governed, not from the crown or the sword. In that moment, a public reading became a public promise—one we are still striving to keep.​

Born in Hawai‘i as a community tradition, Sharing the Spirit of America has grown, neighbor‑to‑neighbor, into a nationwide event—across all 50 states and the nine U.S. territories—of publicly reading the Declaration of Independence on Wednesday, July 8, 2026, at precisely the same time that John Nixon first read it, 6:00 PM EDT.

Rogue River Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR)
will be Sharing the Spirit of America with a public reading of the Declaration of Independence - July 8, 2026, 6:00 PM

Riverfront Stage in Garden Club Park, Rockford along the Rogue River, in downtown Rockford.

The event will begin at 5:30 p.m., with reading starting promptly at 6 p.m. All are welcome to participate in this nationwide, simultaneous event.

Please bring a chair. Restrooms are available. ADA parking and wheelchair accessible.

No RSVP necessary.
Riverfront Stage in Garden Club Park
Wed July 8 @ 6:00 PM
[email protected]