Grayling Visitors Bureau

Hartwick Pines Logging Museum
4216 Ranger Road. Grayling, MI 49738
(989) 348-2537
burgr@michigan.gov

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Rob Burg (989) 348-2537 or burgr@michigan.gov

“Landmark Pine Table back on exhibit at Hartwick Pines”

(December 15, 2009) What ever happened to the big log table? Since 1995, that has been a common question at Hartwick Pines State Park. The log table that was in the old Memorial Building for sixty years is back on exhibit after being in storage for nearly fifteen years. The twelve feet long and three feet wide log table is now in the Michigan Forest Visitor Center and makes a nice place where people may sit and quietly watch the birds at the feeders right outside the windows.
“Probably one of the most asked questions at the park is ‘Where is the log table?’” said park historian Rob Burg. “We are planning for the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the park and at a meeting in November, one of our park rangers brought up the idea of putting the table on display as she and other staff get questions about the table’s whereabouts all of the time. With an exhibit on the park’s history set for the visitor center, we thought this would be a good time to have the table on display.” The table was likely built by members of the Civilian Conservation Corps when they finished the interior of the Memorial Building in 1933-35.
The table was moved last week in the snow. Because of its immense size and weight of approximately five hundred pounds it took a fork lift, a trailer, and several people to move it out of a park storage building to the visitor center. Before the table was put into storage in 1995, it was refinished and has been covered and protected during the entire time it was out of the public view.
“The original plan for the table was to keep it in storage until the Memorial Building was restored and re-opened and then move it back there,” said Burg, “but with the uncertainty of the current economic conditions, the upcoming anniversary of the park presents the perfect time to bring the table back out.” If people have missed the table or are curious what table we are talking about, then they are encouraged to come out to the park and stop by the Michigan Forest Visitor Center to see it in the lobby. For the upcoming “75 Years of Hartwick Pines” exhibit, the table will be part of the Memorial Building and early park history display.
If you have any questions about the table or about the events at Hartwick Pines, please contact Rob Burg at (989) 348-2537 or by email at burgr@michigan.gov.