Hartwick Pines State Park and the Hartwick Pines Logging Museum will host a special evening, Sept. 20, to celebrate life in northern Michigan logging camp. From 7 to 9 p.m., park visitors will have the opportunity to journey back to the year 1896 to meet some of the members of the Salling, Hanson and Company's Section 9 Camp as they prepare for the upcoming winter logging season.

Costumed interpreters will portray several members of the camp including Karen "Bessie" Michelson (the future Karen Hartwick), a local boarding house owner, the landlooker, the camp clerk, the camp cooks, a teamster and some of the shanty boys - the men who did the cutting of the trees. From these men and women you will learn about life in a camp, the logging that was done in the Grayling area and the rest of Michigan and some of the dangers of the job.

Park visitors will take on the roll of new employees of the Salling, Hanson and Company and will journey from the Grayling Train Depot (the visitor center) to the logging camp. The lantern-lit one-quarter mile walk between the visitor center and the logging museum will be transformed into the eight-mile journey to the camp.

While at Section 9 Camp, converse with shanty boy Morris O'Gorman about life in the bunkhouse, landlooker N.P. Salling about the search for the tall timber and camp cooks Mrs. Barnes and Mrs. Stephenson about the huge appetites of the lumberjacks and how much food was needed to feed the camp.

After the tour, enjoy the campfire on the "camboose" or walk back to the visitor center for a hot beverage. Doors of the visitor center will open at 6:30; however, the tours do not start until 7. The last tour will leave at 8:30.

There is no charge for this program, but all motor vehicles entering a state park or recreation area must display a Motor Vehicle Permit, available for purchase at the park entrance. Cost is $24 for a resident annual and $6 for a resident daily. A nonresident annual is $29 and a nonresident daily is $8.

Hartwick Pines State Park is located on M-93 (Hartwick Pines Rd.), two miles east of I-75, exit 259. For more information, contact the park at (989) 348-2537.