Old Settlers: Black history still gathered at School Section Lake

The Old Settlers story belongs to Black families who made homes in Mecosta and nearby counties. At School Section Lake, that history is not tucked away in an archive. It has an annual gathering place.

Mecosta County’s current parks plan says the Old Settlers picnic tradition reaches back to the 1890s. The annual reunion still takes place at School Section Lake Veteran’s Memorial Park with help from the county Park Commission. Michigan Humanities has also supported the group’s work to preserve and share this part of Michigan history.

The park holds another piece of that memory: a one-room schoolhouse used for programs about an early-1900s school day. Together, the schoolhouse and reunion turn a broad history into something you can place on a map. This is a living family and community tradition, not just a sentence on an old marker.

That combination is what makes the site especially useful. The reunion carries family memory, the schoolhouse gives it a physical landmark, and the county park keeps both connected to the place where people still meet.