The Spirit of the Woods Museum
The Spirit of the Woods Museum is Northern Michigan's hidden gem. The museum has been built over several decades with the goal of sharing our love and respect for wildlife and the outdoors with our visitors. Diaramas with beautiful, hand-painted backgrounds feature a vast assortment of native Michigan animals in settings that mimic their life in the wild. Scroll through the photo bar below to see photos of the museum. Kids will love the touch boards by each display give kids and adults a chance to not only see the animals, but to feel their fur. Follow the tracks on the floor to see what animal they were made by.
In addition to wildlife displays, the museum features an extremely large collection of Native American Artifacts - most of which come from the Great Lakes Region. This collection was started well over 100 years ago by George Guntzviller, Voss's grandfather. George would find arrowheads and different artifacts while he was plowing the land with a horse. As he walked behind the plow, he would pick up his treasures and put them in the coffee can that he had attached to the plow. Two of George's sons, Marvin & Harvey, also took an interest in the artifacts and added to the collections as years went by. Voss and Pat have also added pieces to make this a wonderful site to behold.
The museum is a perfect field trip destination for fourth graders learning about Michigan history. Seeing the many tools and arrowheads that ancient people made to be able to survive makes history come alive and displays of antique hunting and fishing gear show how love of the outdoors has also shaped our state's history. Teachers are welcome to come in ahead of time to tour the museum and see how the trip can fit into their studies.
We offer guided tours to groups and welcome all bus tours, school groups of all ages, pre-school and handicapped groups. Senior citizens, church groups, boy scout troops and girl scout troops also enjoy the museum. We are completely handicapped accessible and stroller friendly.
