Lake Canadohta Historical Society

The Lake Canadohta Historical Society collects artifacts, documents, photos  and treasures that define our long and rich history of our resort area. We need safe secure systems designed to protect these treasures that are entrusted to our group. We have been researching and starting the archives for our future museum.  We have accumulated a wonderful collection.  And big news   We bought the former Our Lady of Fatima chapel   , Activity building and 7 acres of land that is all handicapped accessible and has plenty of parking.  This was brought together by a fast Capital Campaign that started in the end of September and we had raised $90,000+ through many generous people in our community. This phase of the campaign was really great in less than 6 weeks, we came up with almost enough to save this property for our Lake.   Of course we had to borrow an interest free loan from a very generous community leader to buy this property and put a new roof on  and want to pay him back as fast as possible.   WE are continuing our capital campaign to make our goal of $150,000. We need some renovations and outside work and just about anything you can imagine.   

   

WE need  YOUR  help though.

  

We hope you will help us to raise funds to have a permanent  museum.  We are looking  for a safe and accessible  place to house our collection that  furthers our mission to preserve the past.  Funding from Crawford Gives will enable us to keep the lights on in our new Headquarters and start the fund for a permanent improvements so needed   Your donation to Erie Gives 2025  will be appreciated by current and future generations of Lake Canadohta and our rural Crawford County..

  

An all volunteer organization that is community minded.

Lake Canadohta Historical Society since 2020

We have been holding our Historical Speakers Series since 2021.   Past speakers included the Hotel with George Eisentrout, Life in Lincolnville with Dale Burgess and Gayle Amann  and The Canadohta Roller Rink with Rick and Andy Mason.  Also last year we had Baxter Wellmon present on the Founders of Bloomfield Township and the cemeteries and buial grounds.  The grand finale last year was Storytellers, Music and Memories featuring a very famous band, The Raiders.  We had record attendance. 

This year, 2024 we had Leon Sam Briggs as our feature speaker in June. His interesting talk and display of artifacts of Indigenous people in our area really delved into some very interesting questions and answers.   We also had Bruce and Carol Mixer- original owners of Camp Athodnac and Dr. Robert Martsolf - a camper at Camp Athodonac.  This July presentation was full of campers and even a counselor or two.   It was very informative and it solved a few mysteries that we wondered about.   They also donated their sizable collection of artifacts, photographs, documents and other camp memorbilia to LCHS.  

Our year was super busy with an Ice Cream Social that celebrated the 130th birthday of Canadohta Lake.  We unveiled a special collection of  Canadohta Lake  merchandise.  We have new tshirts designed by Lake artist Clair McClain, featuring a Native American in a canoe on the lake.   We also have charcuterie boards, ornaments, magnets and coasters that were laser engraved on wood with this same design.  These items are sold at reasonable prices  and will help us with expenses.  We had a  couple of pop-up shops where we sold this merchandise too.  Look for another pop-up shop on Labor Day weekend.

We had a really fun Mix and Mingle at the Frog Pond in July. We will have another on Thursday August 29 from 7-9. Come meet our members and board.  Merchandise will be available. 

We also had a great volunteer outing at the Bloomfield Burial Grounds on Lake Road where we learned to clean grave stones with enviromentally safe supplies.  See our FB page for some amazing before and after pictures of the tombstones.   We will be continuing this as we have adopted this cemetary as the founders of our township are buried there.   We will also sponsor sessions to show others how to do this.    

This fall we will be setting up a Historical Geo Caching Adventure at the Lake.  More info to follow.

We also have Lake Canadohta Historical Society memberships available.  An annual membership for an individual is $15. Family in same household is $30 annually.  This is good for the rest 2025 .  Individual lifetime membership is $189.40.  Lake Canadohta Historical Society members have free admission to events, and a  special perk by sitting in the front reserved area for our special Speaker Series and Events.

Our last event is Show Us Your Treasures and an opportunity to get your Canadohta photos and articles scanned so you can have them electonically.  
This event will start promptly at 10:00 a.m. to noon on Saturday August 31, 2025at the at our new Home at History Center. Come and enjoy what will be an educational and informative look at the history of our lives. For more information contact us at 1-814-440-0146 o…