Realtor Sander Scott traces how Reverend Peter Doherty, a 19th-century missionary, connected three Michigan communities. Doherty spent about 13 years at Mission Harbor (now Old Mission), then moved to what became Omena, where his frequent use of the Native phrase "Omina" eventually named the town.
¡Hey there everyone! Sander Scott here, full-service realtor. I'm coming to you from Haserot Beach out on Old Mission Peninsula, and I've got some cool history that you might not know about how Old Mission is connected to Elk Rapids and is also connected to Omina in Leonawee County. So Reverend Peter Doherty first landed on the Elk River and was going to settle there, and this was like in the 1830s, and wasn't there very long and then came to what was known then as Mission Harbor, which is now Old Mission. He came here for about 13 years, was on Old Mission, and there's a lot of history related to that that I'll put in, that's in the blog and in the links. But then he left that for New Mission, which actually was Omina. And when he landed there and was intermingling with the natives, the Native Americans there, One of the things he would say when they were showing him around and he was trying to learn, you know, he learned their language. He was saying, "Omina," which was, "Is that so?" or "Is it so?" And that actually became Reverend Peter Doherty's nickname for them because he said it so often. And then, of course, now it's called Omina, just south of Northport. And if anybody knows this, I'm on Hazlet Beach in Old Mission, and there's a Hazlet Park in Northport, and I wonder if Reverend Peter Doherty's travels had anything to do with that. I don't know the answer to that, but if you do, leave it in the comments. But anyway, just some cool history about how those three very popular now summer resort communities, waterfront communities, Elk Rapids, Old Mission, Omeena, are all kind of connected by Reverend Peter Doherty and his mission work. You know, back in the day, as they say. So thanks a lot. If you want to follow other interesting historical facts, you might want to check out my blog about Gull Island in Northport. And so check that out. I'll leave the link in the comments there. All right, thanks so much.
