Dexter resident Roger Parker, a direct descendent of the Parker Mill’s founder, is getting to watch his family’s 200-year-old legacy continue to expand as the Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation Commission plans upcoming renovations.

The Parker Mill was owned and operated in some capacity by the Parker family from 1863-1959, when it was sold to the Matthei family, who would eventually be the ones to sell it to the Commission in 1983. According to Parker, the mill has been a place for the community long before it became a public park. He describes his childhood as one full of neighbors visiting and playing on the stream and pond that run through the property.

“We’d have a place for skating in the wintertime, and we’d have a swimming hole for swimming in the summertime, and various neighbor folks would take advantage of those things,” he said. “So, it was always a very, very interesting and busy place for a kid to grow up.”

Parker briefly moved to Tennessee before he and his wife returned to Michigan to be close to their children and grandchildren. In recent years, he’s reconnected with his family’s history by becoming a volunteer docent at the park.

“It’s just a wonderful thing for me, not only to have the experience of growing up there, but now being able to go back and relive that,” he said.

Parker often takes his own grandchildren to the park to “share the mill” and “the stories that go with it.” One of his favorite parts of being a volunteer docent is getting to pass on this history and community to other local children as well.

“I particularly like doing school groups, because I think it not only expands their understanding of our local history, but shows that things weren’t always like they are now, and that people had to be inventive, they had to work hard, they had to work together,” Parker said. “And it’s always fun to answer the school children’s questions about what things were like and just being able to expand their imaginations about the lives of people that have come before.”

In regards to the upcoming renovation, Parks Superintendent Ginny Leikam stated that while the Parks and Recreation Commission is still waiting to hear back from several grant organizations they’ve applied to, accessibility remains their primary focus as the early planning stages continue.  

“A portion of the border trail that’s there still needs renovated and made more accessible,” she said. “We have been working with a consultant team to redesign that. The basic plan is that it would reduce the slope from the parking lot to the river so it’s more accessible because it’s pretty steep.”

Parker agreed that with these new renovations, he also hopes to see wider access to the public.

“We want everybody to be able to get in and see what’s there,” Parker said.

Parker Mill County Park is located at 4650 Geddes Rd, Ann Arbor.

Photos by Matt Rosentreter