Lights, Edison, Action! Andrew Kercher on History, Community, and Barbie?

But what can be the real challenge is, mom

2

and dad, two kids are here.

3

They're here for an hour.

4

And they might only talk

to you for ten minutes.

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What lesson can you get across to that

family in ten minutes that might make

6

mom or dad or junior want to say, like,

oh, I want to read more, or I'll buy

7

the book about that in the gift store.

8

The pressure's on.

9

And so something about that challenge

and that, that opportunity is my

10

favorite way to get to share history.

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Cliff Duvernois: Hello, everyone, and

welcome back to Total Michigan, where

12

we interview ordinary Michiganders

doing some pretty extraordinary things.

13

I'm your host, Cliff Duvernois.

14

Today, I'm in the city of Port Huron.

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And I'm rather embarrassed to admit this,

but the amount of time that I've spent

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in Port Huron, the number of minutes,

you could probably count on one hand, and

17

I've decided I'm going to change that.

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Because there's actually a lot of cool

things that are going on in Port Huron.

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And whenever I come to a new city,

one of the first things that I love

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to do is visit the local museum.

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Because there's, there's so much rich

history and every place in Michigan

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just seems to really embrace the, you

know, not only their local heritage,

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but also at a state level, and in

some cases, even a national level.

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With that being said, today we are talking

to the Manager of Community Engagement,

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and that would be Andrew Kerscher.

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Andrew Kercher: Yeah, thanks

so much for coming in.

27

It's been already a great time

this morning getting to, I think

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you made the right call in coming

to Port Huron and adding to those

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minutes that you've spent here.

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Cliff Duvernois: We're now over an hour.

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But yeah so this is absolutely great

and minutes so Andrew why don't you

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cause it's not just a Port Huron

Museum, so why don't you talk to

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What is the Port Huron Museums?

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Andrew Kercher: That's right.

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So Port Huron here on amazing.

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We we are a city of just less

than 30, 000 people and there's

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six museums in town It's crazy.

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It's just so many.

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It's got to be one of the

highest like per capita museums.

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But at Port Huron Museums,

we run four of them.

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So we are in our Carnegie Center.

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That is the museum that

we have open year round.

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They built a new library in the

60s and the museum got to move

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into this really cool building.

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And we also have three satellite sites,

kind of what we call them, because

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they're all right along the water.

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They're all just about

less than two miles away.

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They're all within a mile of each other

on the beautiful waterways, the St.

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Clair River and Lake Huron.

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And that's the Fort Gratiot Light Station.

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So that's the oldest lighthouse

in the state of Michigan.

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We have the Thomas Edison Depot Museum.

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Thomas Edison is Port

Huron's favorite son.

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He grew up here in town.

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In fact, his very first job was working

at a train depot where he rode the

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train from Port Huron to Detroit.

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And we're lucky enough to still have

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So, we've turned it into a museum all

about the world's most famous inventor.

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And, we also have the Huron Lightship.

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So, this is a fun one.

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Floating lighthouse.

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We're all about aids to

navigation here in Port Huron.

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But the Huron light ship was an

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It went out onto the lake, floated

on the Corsica Shoals, made sure

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that the freighters stayed clear.

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And when it retired from decades

of work, we were able to squirt

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and turn it into a museum.

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It's the only light ship you

can visit on the Great Lakes.

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Cliff Duvernois: Now what I'd

like to do, Andrew, is I'd

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like to take a step back here.

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Why don't you tell us, where are you from?

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Where did you grow up?

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Andrew Kercher: So I grew up right

here in Port Huron, not too far

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from where we sit, right now.

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So this is my hometown.

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This is where all of my folks still live.

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I got the chance to come

back to town after working in

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different parts of the state.

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And, it's been great to, to really

come and experience the town anew.

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It's really different from when you're

a kid to when you move back as an adult.

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Cliff Duvernois: Isn't it

interesting how that happens?

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Andrew Kercher: It really is.

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You know, And I enjoyed it.

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I love I consider myself incredibly

fortunate I think like you we

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both really enjoy Michigan.

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We've seen lots of different parts of it.

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When I Graduated high school.

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remember the Great Recession hit.

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It was pretty miserable.

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Hit the thumb really hard.

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So when I came back to town after

my first semester away at college,

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I couldn't even get my job back at

the movie theater, slinging popcorn.

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You know, we had like

30 percent unemployment.

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It was crazy.

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So I said, What am I going to do?

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I got a lot of time on my hand.

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I want to invest it somehow.

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And so I wound up volunteering

here at this museum.

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I was an unpaid intern.

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And just decided to get my feet

wet, see if I liked museum work.

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And it turns out it did.

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I love the museum field.

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And I worked up in Mackinac for

Mackinac State Historic Parks.

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And that really hit home.

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It's what I love doing is being an

interpreter, getting to share history.

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So I was one of the soldiers up at like

Fort Mackinac, Fort Michilimackinac.

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It's not often.

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It's kind of a weird thing to work

into your resume to be like, oh yeah,

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I was a sergeant in the British Army

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Weird skill set, I can do that in office.

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But, you know, it was

an amazing experience.

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I did outreach for the forts.

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We'd go to elementary school

classrooms, put on a program, we'd

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drive around in the state van.

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I did programs everywhere

from Escanaba to Monroe.

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It's been the whole winter going,

you know, classroom to classroom.

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Everywhere from, big cities, we'd spend

a couple weeks in Detroit, Grand Rapids.

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But I also went to places like

Mesick, you know, the mushroom capital

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Cliff Duvernois: I actually

know where that is.

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Andrew Kercher: Yeah,

there's little tiny places.

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I'm like, ah, I get to go to

like Mesick Elementary School.

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It was a great job.

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But then ultimately one winter there

wasn't quite as much outreach available.

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I had to still find another job because

your bills don't stop in the winter.

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And I wound up working

for the Grand Hotel.

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I had some friends who worked there.

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They were able to score me a security gig.

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I often ask people, you know, have you

ever seen The Shining or read the book.

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Because I lived it.

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So I was the winter caretaker

for the Grand Hotel.

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I like to think I did a pretty good job.

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It didn't burn down.

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It's still there.

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But boy, was that a long, incredibly cold.

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We went like 30 days where

it didn't get to zero.

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Bitter cold.

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Very lonely.

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Not a lot, there's not a lot of nightlife

on Mackinac Island in the winter.

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Or so, you know, sleep during the

day, work at night, and it just, I

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decided then and there, I said, I'm

going to go back to grad school.

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And I'm going to find me a

museum that's open year round.

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Cliff Duvernois: So, let me ask you this

question first before we go much further.

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So, What did you study

when you were in college?

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Andrew Kercher: History and

Philosophy, so that was my

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Cliff Duvernois: Why history?

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Andrew Kercher: You know,

history is something my

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grandfather was big into history.

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He collects old cars.

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I grew up around his house.

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It was something I just took

to like a fish to water.

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I always loved history,

and all aspects of it.

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Getting to share that passion with others.

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So I said, you know,

I'm going to study that.

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When I saw the world of museums.

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Like, This is a great way to

take that love of history.

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And then.

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in some ways it presents

its own set of challenges.

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You don't get the opportunity to

have, you know, an entire semester

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with the same group of people.

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I think that can be really fun.

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But what can be the real challenge is,

okay, mom and dad, two kids are here.

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They're here for an hour.

166

And they might only talk

to you for ten minutes.

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What lesson can you get across to that

family in ten minutes that might make

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mom or dad or junior want to say, like,

oh, I want to read more, or I'll buy

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the book about that in the gift store.

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You know, you got limited amount of time.

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The pressure's on.

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You don't get the, you don't

get to give them a grade.

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You don't get them to come back

week after week after week.

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You got a couple minutes.

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That's it.

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And so something about that challenge

and that, that opportunity is my

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favorite way to get to share history.

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It's a really fun way, So that was

kind of the push factor for me.

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And the pull factor was the fact

that an opportunity opened up at my

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hometown museum in, in Port Huron.

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And at the time, my, my girlfriend

was living here, she's now my wife.

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She's the lighthouse keeper here in town.

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As I mentioned, my, my folks,

my mom still lives here, my

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grandparents still live here.

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So those two things happening right within

the same month, I was like, this is, seems

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like a sign if there's ever been one.

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And that was five years ago, jumped

on it, and moved back to Port Huron,

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and haven't looked back since.

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Cliff Duvernois: What was that transition

like going from you know, big city,

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big budget, to now small, hometown

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Andrew Kercher: Yeah, I mean, not gonna

lie, I took a pay cut to move back home.

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But there are some things that are

a little bit like, it's cheaper to

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go to a restaurant in Port Huron.

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You know, that's, I don't know of

anywhere else that has cheaper taco

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Tuesdays than here in Port Huron.

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And having that great support

network from my family here.

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And, and, you know, Eventually, I was

able to afford a house here, which I

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I just don't think would have been the

case and even a place like dearborn

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My wife and I we bought and i'm always

embarrassed to say this We bought an

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eight bedroom victorian mansion that

I don't think I could have bought

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anywhere else in the state It worked out.

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And I live right on the

main street of town.

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I love that so much

that I can walk to work.

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I rode my bike to work today.

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You know, it's, it's great,

to be able to do that.

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But it was, it's, it is a

challenge, but like I said, being

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from here and then getting to

share your own hometown history.

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There's something just extra

about that, I think, that, that

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really does something for me.

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And I'm always proud to get to

share the stories of why Port

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Huron is an amazing place.

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Why we have this cool history.

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And there's something about,

it's kind of like an underdog.

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I always feel like I'm getting to tell

people, let people in on a secret that

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they don't know about in Port Huron,

that is well, kept, that people are

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like, oh, yeah, I didn't know that.

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This is a cool place.

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We do have a lot of cool history.

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So getting to stick up for a

place like Port Huron that I

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really care about was a big draw.

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But it's also small enough that, like,

I know all my friends and neighbors.

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When I go downtown, I can

name most of the store owners.

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I can't go out shopping without running

into, like, lots of people I know.

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We were talking about your interview list

of people you're going to talk to in town.

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I know most of them.

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They're friends of mine, which

is just great to get to live

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in an environment like that.

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Like I said, there's a lot of

support you find in that small town.

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For me, it's a real Goldilocks zone.

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Of, uh, It's not too small.

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And it's also not too big.

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It's perfect.

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Cliff Duvernois: Nice.

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For our audience, we're going to take

a quick break and thank our sponsors.

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When we come back, we're going to talk

to Andrew about what you can expect

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when you come to the Port Huron Museums.

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We'll see you after the break.

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Are you enjoying this episode?

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Well, I can tell you

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241

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247

Hello everyone, and welcome back to

Total Michigan, where we interview

248

ordinary Michiganders doing some

pretty extraordinary things.

249

I am your host Cliff Duvernois.

250

Today we're in Port Huron, and we're

talking with the Manager of Community

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Engagement, as well as Historian.

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And the man about town, Andrew Kersher.

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And, uh, Andrew, if you would, one thing

I'd like to do is just for the audience.

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If they're going to come to one of

these museums, just take a couple

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of minutes and just talk about,

okay, here's, the, the Fort Gratiot,

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just talk a little bit about that.

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And then just kind of

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Andrew Kercher: Yeah, absolutely.

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'cause I think one of the things

that makes us so unique is

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those sites are so different.

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One of the ones that the

furthest north, of our sites

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right at the base of Lake Huron.

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And it's the Fort Gratiot light station.

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Now we always say light station here

rather than just lighthouse because

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we always want people to realize

it's more than just the tower.

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It is the oldest lighthouse in the

state of michigan It's pretty amazing.

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very first tower was built.

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It's actually not the tower that's there.

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It was rather shoddily constructed and

actually put in kind of a bad location.

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So it was kind of a blessing in

disguise when it blew down in a storm.

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After it blew down, they

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Congress spent five grand

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That is a lot of money.

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But it should tell you just

how important this spot is for

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shipping on the Great Lakes.

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Everybody's going to be

passing by Port Huron.

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If you want to get into Lake Huron,

Lake Michigan, Lake Superior,

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you're going to come by here.

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And we were talking a little bit

earlier, the current sometimes

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it's upward of 10 knots.

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It's an incredibly dangerous current.

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That's why they wanted that lighthouse

here and why it was constructed so early.

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So you've got the tower.

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But the tower is still in use

today as an aid to navigation.

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So there were a lot of buildings that

were built a little bit later on.

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There's actually a coast guard station put

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takes over from the lighthouse service.

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So when you come onto the grounds and

you look around, our goal is to make

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That's when the more

recent buildings are from.

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And so that's the era

we've chosen to interpret.

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Cause if we were picking, say

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down some of the buildings.

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And we're not in the

tearing down business.

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So it's a really amazing tour that

you get into all of those buildings.

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You get to see the keepers

quarters, see, eventually the crew

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quarters are going to be restored.

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It's an ongoing effort.

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And it's pretty amazing.

301

You do get to climb the tower.

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You get to go out on the gallery.

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There's not a lot of lighthouses

where you get to do that.

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Step outside and get, we always

call it the best view of the blue.

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We're the blue water area, the water here.

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Everyone's always amazed

by how exceptionally blue

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lower Lake Huron and the St.

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Claire river is.

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You get to look at the Blue Water Bridge.

310

I mean, they named it that for a reason.

311

That's the bridge connecting

us and Sarnia over into Canada.

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You can see all of that

from the top of the tower.

313

It's really amazing.

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Cliff Duvernois: Now you were

telling me before that, if I,

315

correct me if I'm wrong on this.

316

But basically all the ships

that get access to the Great

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Lakes have to come through.

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Andrew Kercher: Yeah, if they

want to go to those upper lakes.

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so if you're going up to Huron,

Michigan, or Superior, all

320

of that water is draining.

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And if you think about the bottom

of Lake Huron being a funnel, we

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are the drain that all of that

funnel is coming through the St.

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Clair River.

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And the amazing thing is the St.

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Clair River is so narrow that you

know, a really good golfer He can

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put a Titleist over into Canada.

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Um, you know, it is, It's

pretty narrow, so there's a

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lot of turbulence right there.

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And a very strategic point.

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I mean, it's one of the reasons the French

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Fort Gratiot takes its name

from actually the American fort,

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with a French sounding name.

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Charles Gratiot was a French extraction.

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He was the supervising engineer.

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And there's a good lesson

you can learn from history.

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If you want to get on your

boss's good side, name the

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fort you're building after him.

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That'll get you some brownie points.

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So Fort Gratiot was a military

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that's where the Fort Gratiot

light station gets its name.

342

And actually there's only one

building of Fort Gratiot left.

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It's the post hospital.

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And we're so proud that this summer

that's going to be open again.

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After a multi year restoration, we were

able to secure some grant funding and

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you're going to be able to learn about

the medical and military history of this

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area that goes For back hundreds of years,

at that building that's on the grounds

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there, the Fort Gratiot light station.

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Cliff Duvernois: So talk

to us about another museum.

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Andrew Kercher: Yeah, so if you head just

south of there, a couple hundred yards,

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you'll run into the Thomas Edison Depot.

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this train depot, I've often said

it's a Grand Trunk Depot, that's

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the railway that's actually out of

Canada, and crossed most of Michigan

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as well, the Grand Trunk and Western.

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Any little town or, or, city would

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train station that's still around

those things are always turned into

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little historical societies are

really pretty amazing buildings.

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They'd be proud just to have that.

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The fact that ours also has this

connection to Thomas Edison is

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what really puts it above the top.

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So Thomas Edison's family, moved to Port

Huron when he was a little kid It was

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the youngest of the bunch his dad Sam.

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They moved out of Mylon, Ohio that they

saw the railroad didn't come to town

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there and they said we're not risking it.

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This town doesn't look like it's

on a, a ticket to prosperity.

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So they move out, out of town there.

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And they come to Port Huron,

which they saw on the grow.

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And that's where Edison grew up.

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He spent his formative years here.

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He got his first job selling,

he was a news butcher.

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So that meant he sold newspapers,

magazines, nuts, gum, candy, apples, you

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name it, on the train to these people who

were riding back and forth to Detroit.

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And as soon as he, gets any of that

money, he spends it on experiments.

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He's always buying chemistry sets.

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In fact, he, uh, at one point,

accidentally sets one of the

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train cars on fire because they

let him have a little laboratory.

377

And amazingly, they get,

they throw him off the train.

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But he doesn't get fired.

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You know, you set one train car

on fire, you get into trouble.

380

But he does some amazing things.

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As a teenager, this is astounding to me.

382

It's during the American

383

Everyone is starved for news.

384

You hear a great big

battle has taken place.

385

What's the first thing you want to know?

386

You know, Who won?

387

You know, was, did my, was my kid, was,

you know, a Michigan unit fighting there?

388

Did they get annihilated?

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I, I need to know.

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Any kind of news about

something like that.

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Edison knew that.

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And so he actually was friends with

the telegraph operators along the line.

393

So he got the news ahead of time,

right from them, right from 19th

394

century Twitter on the telegraph.

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And he bought extra

copies of the newspaper.

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And at every stop, he'd up the price

and say, I only have a limited number.

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I don't have enough.

398

You know, this went from a nickel to a

dime to a quarter by the end of the run.

399

And people would pay it.

400

So his business acumen

really showed through.

401

And he would eventually go on to

actually print a newspaper on the train.

402

He had a little tiny galley press.

403

So it was a newspaper, maybe, you

know, eight and a half by ten.

404

It was kind of a one sheet paper that he'd

print with news he heard on the train.

405

And things he could pull from the wire.

406

And he printed it.

407

It was the first time anything was

ever printed on a moving train.

408

And he did that as a teenager.

409

I Yeah, it's pretty cool.

410

So the part of the Port Huron Herald that

he's handing out on this train printed on

411

the moving train that really shows you how

forward thinking was even as a teenager.

412

But eventually he did get lessons

in telegraphy from a station master.

413

He saved a kid from being hit by a

train was playing on a train track.

414

And picks up a three year old

from getting hit by a boxcar.

415

And the station master says,

well, how can I repay you?

416

And he says, teach me the telegraph.

417

That seems like the

real way of the future.

418

I want to know Morse

code, things like that.

419

As soon as he learned that he

was kind of off and running.

420

And for a little while he wanted to be

a telegrapher and work for railroads.

421

He had some kind of misstarts with that.

422

And he, worked briefly in Canada.

423

At one point he was going to go to Brazil.

424

But then decided the real money

was inventing things for that.

425

And, he eventually moved to New York.

426

Actually, over to New Jersey, as

a young man, he was able to get a

427

little bit of money from some of

his early inventions, uh, like the

428

quadruplex telegraph that allows you

to send multiple messages on one line.

429

He gets his dad Sam Edison is the one

who tells him, you should build your

430

factory at Menlo Park in New Jersey.

431

He says, it's like the perfect distance.

432

It's close to New York City.

433

But not in the city.

434

It'll be cheaper.

435

You're close to investors.

436

And his dad actually

goes out and builds that.

437

And that's where he makes most

of his most famous inventions.

438

Like perfecting the lightbulb, the

phonograph, these things that have,

439

that, uh, define the 20th century

and change the way we operate.

440

And the building.

441

He built him in was built by Sam

His whole family lived in Port

442

Huron the rest of their life.

443

So he came back to Port Huron many times.

444

He wanted to be buried here.

445

But his second wife actually stuck

him in the backyard in New Jersey.

446

So he had the severe handicap

of having already been dead.

447

So he couldn't tell his wife, you

know, move me but, we take care

448

of his, grave sites, here in town.

449

They're part of a lot of our tours

through the cemetery and things like that.

450

It's a really amazing connection.

451

Uh, I'm always a strong Edison apologist.

452

There are people out there today that

want to bring him down a peg or two.

453

Or make these wild claims,

these stolen inventions.

454

And it's just, he actually

kept really good records.

455

None of that's true.

456

I always tell people, oh, if that's

true, can you You got any proof

457

that that's an extraordinary claim

requires some extraordinary evidence.

458

Edison certainly was a businessman.

459

He was in it to make money.

460

He wasn't just doing it

for the good of humanity.

461

But we certainly benefited from it.

462

He made a lot of money.

463

He was a wealthy man.

464

And certainly, uh, one of the greatest

geniuses in, in world history.

465

Cliff Duvernois: always tell people

when they, when these kinds of

466

topics come up, I always say, just

because Hollywood made a movie

467

about it, it doesn't mean it's true.

468

Andrew Kercher: Exactly.

469

What you read online is not, contrary

to some belief, just because they

470

put it online doesn't mean it's true.

471

Cliff Duvernois: exactly.

472

So what's next?

473

Andrew Kercher: We also have

the Huron Light ship that

474

is that floating lighthouse.

475

We talked a little bit

about at the beginning.

476

It's an amazing piece of engineering.

477

Is a hundred over a hundred years old Was

478

But it's permanently dry docked and

it's a museum ship So you walk on board.

479

You can tour the whole ship

down in the engine room.

480

For ship that's just 92 feet long.

481

Believe it or not, we have, our captain

of the light ship, his name is Jerry.

482

If you really like lighthouses, I

have personally, I can personally

483

attest to, I went on a four hour tour

of a 92 foot long ship with Jerry.

484

There's so many stories.

485

So many things to tell.

486

uh, there's something

for everybody on there.

487

So if you really want to get

into it, Jerry's your man.

488

He can show you everything.

489

But a lot of people come,

they'll go on the tour.

490

It's an amazing place to watch

freighters go by, right there on the St.

491

Clair river.

492

We maintain air pressure in the air horn.

493

So we blow a Great Lake Salute.

494

That's one of the things that

I'm always think is really neat.

495

So if you're ever around the great

lakes and you hear one long blast of the

496

horn followed by two short, just like.

497

That just means hello on the Great Lakes.

498

It's a special thing that

pilots do to each other.

499

And we always blow salutes at

all of the ships that go by.

500

And the ones that aren't

jerks return the salute to us.

501

So, um, that's just a really amazing

experience to be on the weather

502

deck on a nice summer or spring

day and see those freighters go by.

503

It's all the fun of being on

a ship without being seasick

504

because you're actually on land.

505

amazing place to get to, uh, check out.

506

One of the very few, there's only

about a dozen left in the world.

507

This is the only one in the Great Lakes

that you can see a floating lighthouse.

508

Cliff Duvernois: That's actually cool.

509

actually very cool.

510

What's What's next?

511

Andrew Kercher: Our main museum is the

Carnegie, that's where we are right now.

512

We're right here, actually, in our

Maritime Gallery, up on the second floor.

513

So this stays open year round.

514

Our satellite sites, they

generally run April, to December.

515

The spring months, we take a little

bit of time to do some work there.

516

And there's just not as much tourism

when the kids are back in school in

517

February and March, that kind of time.

518

But the Carnegie, we do

stay open, year round.

519

And we have three different

floors of exhibits.

520

Our Maritime Gallery

is a permanent exhibit.

521

We have permanent, Black History exhibit,

permanent Indigenous History exhibit.

522

Sometimes we bring in exhibits that

are pre made from elsewhere and

523

are on tour around the country.

524

There are other ones

that we make in house.

525

And I am so excited.

526

This summer, uh, the way

through until October, we have

527

a really, really fun exhibit.

528

We have Barbie.

529

"What was I made for?"

530

Is the name of our exhibit.

531

There's some amazing collections.

532

Some stuff that has been brought

in from some private collectors.

533

Some stuff from within

the museum collection.

534

Lots of hands ons.

535

Lots of photos opportunities.

536

Great places for selfies.

537

We have gone all in.

538

We're all pink.

539

All summer long.

540

It's just a fun exhibit.

541

Who doesn't love Barbie, you know?

542

The movie really inspired a lot

of us at the museum when we were

543

talking about upcoming exhibits.

544

There's always a little bit of

time that goes into making one.

545

It's going to take a couple of

months to get all of your ducks

546

in a row, fabricate things.

547

So it's a really fun exhibit.

548

Like I said, we rotate

stuff throughout the year.

549

So even if you don't come

this summer, there'll be

550

something different next summer.

551

And there's always something to

see at this fabulous, we call it

552

the Carnegie, because of course

it is an old Carnegie Library.

553

And outside of Detroit, this is

actually the largest Carnegie

554

Library in the state of Michigan.

555

Cliff Duvernois: So let's find I wanna

go back and explore something here a

556

little bit cause you talked about this

Barbie Exhibit that's coming here.

557

So how does that idea meeting go?

558

Like, we gotta bring in an exhibit.

559

What are we gonna do?

560

Hey, why don't we do Barbie?

561

Andrew Kercher: Yeah, we have, we

have weekly brainstorming sessions

562

with basically all of our senior

staffs, you know, the curator,

563

myself, our executive director.

564

We all sit down and, and we usually come

up with a list of like, here's things

565

we gotta tackle for the next week.

566

And museums, we're always looking,

usually at least a year out on our

567

exhibit schedule, if not longer.

568

And that was something we were saying,

you know, what, what can we do?

569

And this was actually something

that one of our board members said,

570

hey, you know, I've got a friend.

571

He's got a really big Barbie collection,

that they might be willing to loan us.

572

And that was the kernel of where this

started all right Well, if we can get

573

one, maybe we can get a couple we can

get a couple Well, then we can get a

574

Barbie car and a Barbie box that you

can step in and other stuff on loan

575

and other stuff From the collection.

576

What can we do?

577

So, you know, we try

and tie things locally.

578

Our mission of the museums is to preserve

and illuminate history and culture

579

for the benefit of our community.

580

And honestly our community in some

ways is Port Huron In other ways,

581

it's the whole blue water area st

Clara County and in otherwise, it's

582

just anyone who comes and visits us.

583

We have visitors from

all around the world.

584

So if you come here, you can learn

about history and culture in some way.

585

And hopefully when you leave a museum,

I'm pretty passionate about saying

586

that when you leave a museum, if we've

done our job, you're a better person

587

than you were when you walked in.

588

Nice.

589

Cliff Duvernois: so Andrew, if somebody is

listening to this and they want to connect

590

with you, follow you online, learn more

about the museums here, because summer

591

is going to be on us before we know it.

592

Where can they go?

593

Andrew Kercher: Absolutely.

594

So our website is always a great start.

595

PortHuronMuseums.

596

org Uh, If you just Google Port

Huron Museums, we'll come right up.

597

And we've got a great website

that we always update with our

598

hours and current, admission rates

and deals, that sort of thing.

599

And our current exhibits and any fun

events and programs we have coming up.

600

That's where you can go to book tickets

for things like our trolley tours.

601

We do throughout the summer.

602

We've got lots from murder and mayhem

themed on just to architecture.

603

Usually at least one every single week

It's a great place to find all that.

604

Another place, to find and follow our

content is our social media So we have

605

an Instagram, we have a Facebook page and

we're also museum shenanigans on Tiktok.

606

So We cover all our bases, but

our Facebook page is very active.

607

You can find all of the events

there and we get to share,

608

things out of the archives.

609

That's part of my job is I share, you

know, anniversaries or interesting,

610

you know, clippings from the past

or pieces of our, our artifacts.

611

So great way to stay in touch

with Bluewater area history

612

is by following us there.

613

And again, Port Huron Museums

on all of those social medias.

614

Andrew,

615

Cliff Duvernois: Andrew, thank you so much

for taking time to chat with us today.

616

Really do appreciate it.

617

Andrew Kercher: Well,

thank you for coming in.

618

I always, I think it's sad

that maybe we're a hidden gem.

619

I'm thanking you for making

us maybe not so hidden.

620

Cliff Duvernois: maybe not so hidden.

621

Definitely not hidden.

622

for our folks, you can, get all

the links that Andrew mentioned

623

above by going to totalmichigan.

624

com and clicking on his interview.

625

We'll see you next time when we

talk to another Michigander doing

626

some pretty extraordinary things.

627

We'll see you then.