The Pine Grove Historical Museum is located in

Pontiac, Michigan Pontiac ( ') is a city in and the county seat of Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 61,606. A northern suburb of Metro Detroit, Pontiac is about northwest of Detroit. Founde ...

and operated by the Oakland County Pioneer and Historical Society. The museum features the home of former Michigan Governor Moses Wisner. The four acre-plus property also includes several outbuildings, including a summer kitchen, a smokehouse and a

root cellar A root cellar (American English), fruit cellar (Mid-Western American English) or earth cellar (British English) is a structure, usually underground. or partially underground, used for storage of vegetables, fruits, nuts, or other foods. Its na ...

. The property includes a late 19th-century period one-room schoolhouse, and a former carriage house that is home to the Pioneer Museum and the Research Library.

Moses Wisner

The

Moses Wisner House The Wisner House, also known as Pine Grove, is a single-family house located at 405 Cesar Chavez Avenue in Pontiac, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. It is now a public museum, the Governor Moses Wisner H ...

is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1845, Moses Wisner moved to

Oakland County, Michigan Oakland County is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is part of the metropolitan Detroit area, located northwest of the city. As of the 2020 Census, its population was 1,274,395, making it the second-most populous county in Michigan, b ...

from

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

with his family, They settled on a piece of land along the old

Saginaw Trail Saginaw Trail is the collective name for a set of connected roads in Southeast and Central Michigan that runs from Detroit to Saginaw through Pontiac and Flint that was originally a tribal foot trail. To drive it today, drivers would follow: * from ...

. Although Wisner was a lawyer, he had a passion for farming, so he bought enough land for chickens and cattle, and for fruit trees and growing vegetables. In 1858, Wisner was elected governor of Michigan. Since there was no governor's mansion in Lansing, Wisner remodeled his Greek Revival-Style home to accommodate his responsibilities as governor. Rather than running for re-election for governor, Wisner organized a volunteer infantry regiment to fight in the U.S. Civil War, and in 1862 the 22nd Michigan Infantry left for Kentucky with Colonel Wisner in command. Before leaving, Wisner transferred ownership of the Pine Grove property to his wife, Angeolina. In 1863, Moses Wisner died in Kentucky of typhoid fever.

Pine Grove

The grounds of Wisner's mansion included a large grove of pine trees, so Wisner named the property "Pine Grove."

Pioneer Museum

Located in the carriage house is the Pioneer Museum, which features a collection hand-made tools and farm implements from the late 1800s.

Drayton Plains School

In 1865, the Drayton Plains one-room schoolhouse was built at Monroe Road and Sashabaw Road in Drayton Plains, Michigan. The schoolhouse closed in 1920. In 1965, the schoolhouse was donated to the Pioneer Museum by Leonard Coates, and moved to Pine Grove. It was restored to its late 1800s-era condition and now reflects the school in its original state, including school benches, a wood-burning stove and textbooks from 1860 to 1890.

Research library

The research library is located in the carriage house and contains many historical resources, including books, city directories, cemetery records, newspapers, and other local historical reference materials.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pine Grove Historical Museum Buildings and structures in Pontiac, Michigan Museums in Oakland County, Michigan Houses in Oakland County, Michigan Historic house museums in Michigan Governor of Michigan