Each town boasts about its famous visitors, and southeast Michigan has had a few. Like back in 1977, when Elvis Presley performed at Ann Arbor’s Crisler Arena, just a few months before he passed away. Or in the wee hours of October 14, 1960, when a vibrant young presidential hopeful named John F. Kennedy Junior came to Ann Arbor and introduced himself as a graduate of the “Michigan of the East, Harvard University.”
Saline has also had its share of famous celebrities come to call.
Emily Dickinson Visits a Friend
Although not publicly recognized during her lifetime, the poet Emily Dickinson was known to visit a friend in Saline. According to the placard at the Saline Historical Society’s Depot Museum, Saline resident Rufus Nutting befriended Edward Dickinson, Emily’s father, while Nutting was faculty at Case Western Reserve. Known as a recluse, Emily forged a friendship with one of Nutting’s daughters and would come to Saline and visit.
Sarah Bernhardt Spends Christmas in Saline
Then there was Sarah Bernhardt, considered the first modern-day celebrity. Born in Paris in 1844, she had a long and storied career and life. She shunned all norms by wearing pants, having a son out of wedlock, and giving him her last name. Never shying away from the spotlight, she starred in her own advertising campaigns and is credited with modernizing stardom.
So, what brought Sarah to Saline? A Saline Historical Society placard explains that she gave a performance in Ann Arbor on Christmas Eve 1880, then left by train headed to Toledo for her next performance on Christmas Day. But with the snow falling at a rapid rate, her train couldn’t make it past a spot between Urania Hill and Judd Road that regularly filled with drifting snow. Fortunately for Sarah, this unexpected delay happened on Othniel Gooding’s property, and the family took her in as an unexpected Christmas Day guest.
Notably, she continued on to her other performances scheduled in Canada, even as the “Catholic clergy of Montreal have ordered their people to keep away from the Bernhardt performances” (from the Leelanau Enterprise, December 30, 1880).
Buffalo Bill Cody Rides His Steed to Saline
From a recluse to a celebrity, we reveal another famous visitor, none other than Buffalo Bill Cody, who was known to travel the United States and the world. Always the performer, The Mount Clemens Press, July 23, 1887, recounts the shock of London Society when Buffalo Bill “uses a knife to convey to his mouth the new peas and other luxuries with which his English hosts supply him. The other guests watch him with open-eyed wonder, and seem to think his performances at the table a part of the program of the entertainment of the wild west show.”
What brought Buffalo Bill Cody to Saline? It turns out he had a cousin who lived off Textile Road, all farmland at the time, and when Buffalo Bill had a show in Ann Arbor, he would visit. The Saline Reporter, May 29, 2008, interviewed local resident Warren Rentschler, who recounted the story his father would tell. “While he was in Ann Arbor (Buffalo Bill) decided to visit his cousin… he mounted his large white horse and rode across the fields jumping the fences as he went.”
Saline Rolls Out the Welcome Carpet
If only we could have a chance to talk to Emily Dickinson and ask her if perchance Saline was a source of inspiration for some of her writings. And too bad we can’t ask the Gooding family what they thought of their celebrity guest. We assume they had a Joyeux Noël. And who among us wouldn’t delight in seeing a genuine frontiersman on his white horse, galloping through the fields and jumping fences. Oh, the selfies we could take if we could greet them.
No matter how you look at it, one thing is for sure – Saline surely has kept some interesting company.
Learn more about Saline’s history at www.salinehistory.org
Elvis at the Crisler Center https://youtu.be/iURC9lVquUg?si=9nNLwFbAubHsStCo
JFK launches the Peace Corps www.peacecorps.gov/about-the-agency/history/founding-moment/
Sarah Bernhardt information www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/paris-exhibition-celebrates-sarah-bernhardt-the-first-modern-celebrity-180982174/ and https://youtu.be/jOmSl8AeNdE?si=yLzQedn3DM4_ZD2s
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