This is Amy Wagenaar from the Historical Society of Michigan with a Michigan history moment. It was called Michigan's White Pine Era. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, loggers clear cut their way through Michigan's pine forests. They devastated the land. In their wake lay nothing but endless acres of tree stumps. Yet out of all the destruction came something of beauty. The Shrine of the Pines. Raymond Bud Overholzer was an accomplished outdoorsman from Ohio. A fishing trip brought him to Baldwin, Michigan area, and he fell in love with it. In 1921, he and his wife Hortense moved to Michigan and made Baldwin their home. There, Overholzer worked as a hunting and fishing guide and supplemented his income as a taxidermist. The landscape of tree stumps impressed the outdoorsman. Where other people saw only ruin, Overholser saw an opportunity to memorialize the lost forests. He envisioned a Shrine of the Pines that he would fashion from the tree stumps. Like a sculptor who looked at a slab of marble and saw an image inside it, Overholzer imagined forms that lay within the tangle of roots in the pine stumps. Out of those, he fashioned beautiful pieces of furniture. Tables, chairs, beds and other items. He used no power tools, nails or screws. He made everything with hand tools, wooden pegs, dowels, and glue. In 1935, Bud and Hortense began to offer public tours of his creations. In a journal, Hortense recorded the history of each piece and how Bud had crafted it. In 1940 and 1941, they had a log cabin built to display the furniture. Local builders used white pine logs from Newaygo to erect a structure that resembled a hunting lodge, including a stone fireplace made from 70 tons of uncut rock. Visitors from all over came to Baldwin to tour the Shrine of the Pines. In 1952, Bud Overholzer died of a heart attack. Hortense passed away in 1959. Hortense had bequeathed the Shrine of the Pines to the Boys Club of Michigan. It eventually went to Boysville, a Jesuit home for boys, which operated it as a Museum until 1980. Fearing that the shrine would be demolished, the local community formed a non profit to purchase it. Today, the Shrine of the Pines operates as a museum complex on the Pere Marquette River. There you can visit Bud Overholzer's wooden creations and stroll through the woods on nature paths. This Michigan history moment was brought to you by michiganhistorymagazine.org.