What's Happening in Shelby Township, MI…

Names have been given to the two bald eagles residing at Holland Ponds Park in Shelby Township.

The public had been asked by the Burgess-Shadbush Nature Center to name the two eagles, which have become popular in the community. A poll was created with five options for names, all of which have some connection to Shelby Township or to the United States.

The sets of names put forward were Nathaniel and Jemima, Ike and Mamie, Anna and Herald, Isaac and Susannah, and Peter and Sarah. The community decided the names for the two eagles should be Peter and Sarah, named for the couple Peter and Sarah Lerich who owned Spring Hill Farm.

The farm was a station, and was secured by stationmasters or conductors who aided those seeking freedom during the decade before the Civil War. Peter was a conductor, and the couple used a beacon tree to mark their station. During those 10 years, many people seeking freedom fled to the beacon tree, then crept along a spring through the hillside. The kitchen of Peter and Sarah provided these freedom seekers with food and drink as they waited for the night hours to come, upon which they would resume their journey.

Flyer printing is often used to inform the community of such names and the history behind them.