Pelkie, Michigan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pelkie is an unincorporated community in Baraga County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The community is on the Sturgeon River in the northeast part of Baraga Township at
Originally known by the French Canadian name of Pelletier, the name gradually evolved into Pelkie, due in large part to the arrival of Finnish residents in the late 19th century.
The Hanka Homestead Museum, located north of town, is a 400-acre farm which depicts rural Finnish-American life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on 1984-07-19.
The Historic Pelkie Grade School museum, constructed in 1909, is the only one-room schoolhouse still standing in Baraga County, and is listed on the State Register of Historic Sites on June 10, 1980. The building was used as a school until 1932, then as a town hall, and underwent restoration beginning in 1979. The museum also houses a horse-drawn school bus.
Today, Pelkie is home to the Baraga County Fair, which is held every year on the second weekend in August. The community's primary economic activity is dairy farming, and most of the milk is shipped to processors in Wisconsin.
