Southeastern Michigan officials are weighing plans to preserve buildings at a historic site and refocus its emphasis on the period of European settlement just prior to the War of 1812.
The Monroe County Historical Commission recently outlined its proposals for the River Raisin Territorial Park to the county's commissioners after a working group spent months devising the plan.
The proposals are primarily a maintenance plan to address long-term issues at five existing structures: the historic site's paper mill, trading post, barn, cabin and kitchen, said Andy Clark, the director of the historical commission, museum and park.
But the proposals include shifting the site's emphasis from a multi-decade, broad presentation to one more focused on the period of settlement along the River Raisin just prior to the War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain, The Monroe News reported .
"This was a dynamic period in the history of the site," said Historical Commission Chairman Brian Egen.
The plan includes redeveloping the site's Papermill School as a visitor center and museum to help tell the settlement's story.
The wide-ranging plan also seeks to expand the site's operations to five days a week, and calls for additions or enhancements such as period roads and gardens, Egen said. One improvement already in progress is the rebuilding of the site's perimeter fence line.
After the core maintenance is complete, the focus will then shift to the construction of new features, Clark said.
"These new exhibits will reinforce the telling of our unique history and the important role of the settlement in Michigan's formative territorial years," he said.
The proposals are based off of a plan that was published in 1978.