Photo by Heather Raulerson
One of the hidden gems that most people don’t know is located in Rochester Hills is the Rochester Hills Museum at Van Hoosen Farm. This nationally registered historic site contains a1840 Van Hoosen Farmhouse, an 1888 Red House, and a 1927 Dairy Barn converted into a year-round exhibit gallery. You could go and walk around the grounds during non-pandemic times and explore the 15-acre park with Stoney Creek Stream and gardens. But, it has been closed for the past year. However, times are changing, and they will be opening to allow visitors to tour this fabulous place for two weekends coming up (April 16th & 17th and May 14 & 15th).
Photo by Heather Raulerson
The Rochester Hills Museum offers tours for the 1840 Van Hoosen Farmhouse this Friday and Saturday (April 16th & 17th). The exhibit opens at 12:30 p.m., and the tours are 1-2 p.m. The tour is free for members, non-members: $5/adult, $3/seniors, and students. To register, visit www.rochesterhills.org/musprograms. You need to register by noon the preceding Thursday for each weekend visit. For more information, email rhmuseum@rochesterhills.org. The Van Hoosen Farm is at 1005 Van Hoosen Road in Rochester Hills.
Photo by Heather Raulerson
You will see vintage spinning wheels, beautiful teacups of all sorts, antique quilts, and bookshelves filled with old books on the farmhouse tour. The highlight of the Van Hoosen Farmhouse tour for me is to see how life was like for Bertha Van Hoosen, M.D. She was a surgeon and a feminist, founded and became the American Women’s Medical Association’s first president. She was also a pioneer in the use of using an anesthesia during childbirth. And she has been included in the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame.
Photo by Heather Raulerson
Things to see on site are the Dairy Barn, the Red House, the Milk House, the Calf Barn, the Bull Barn, and of course, the Van Hoosen Farmhouse. But, there are also the agricultural barns and nearby pioneer schoolhouse and cemetery. Not to forget to mention the grove of black walnut and maple trees surrounding the gazebo by the stream and the gardens and hillsides of daylilies, ferns, hostas, peonies, poppies, and lily-of-the-valley that leave you with their lovely fragrance floating on the breeze. If you want to sit back and relax and soak all this in, settle yourself down in one of the benches along Stoney Creek to listen to the water flowing over the rocks in the stream.
Photo by Heather Raulerson
If you are a photographer, you will have to pay a fee for the day. I’m not sure how that will work on the tours. I believe it is for professional photographers only that have to pay the photography fee. But, make sure to bring your camera as there are so many places to take photos. You have to wander up the hill if you have time to walk the trail; it is pretty lovely. You will get great aerial views of the farm/dairy barn up there. Take some photos of the stone fences in front of the farmhouse and around the dairy barn. Get some close-ups of the multi-colored stone they look great in photos.
I hope you can make it out to tour the Van Hoosen Farmhouse and the many other buildings on the property. It is a museum that shouldn’t be missed with its rich history tied to Rochester, Michigan. If you do make it out on the tour days, let me know what you thought. What were your favorite places to see at the Rochester Hills Museum?
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