About Ottawa County Historical Society

The Ottawa County Historical Society was organized in 1963. Its mission and purpose are to discover, preserve and celebrate the history of Ottawa County and to promote a heightened awareness of our local place in time."

In 1989, the Society purchased the home of Benajah and Rachel Wolcott, the first two keepers of the Marblehead Lighthouse. The property is today owned by Danbury Township and the Society continues to operate the Keepers House as a pioneer home and adjoining property known as The Annex as a gift shop and small museum.

The Society receives funds through memberships, donations, grants, and specific projects. It publishes a Keepers House coloring book, an oral history series entitled The People of Ottawa County-Oral Histories recently publishing Volume VII---The Stories Continue, and a Combined Atlas of Ottawa County: Hardesty 1874/Goodman 1900. In November 2016 the Society produced History of Ottawa CountyThe First 175 Years, a book detailing the Countys history in narrative and photographs.