Michigan man sold 365 acres to park service but kept his cabin for 25 years

For decades, Miles Boekeloo and his family used a secluded property along Michigan’s Lake Michigan shoreline as a private wilderness retreat. In 1980, Boekeloo sold the entire 365.48-acre property to the National Park Service, and the historic property, now known as Boekelodge, became part of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Yet the sale came with an unusual arrangement: Boekeloo’s family was allowed to retain the use of five acres containing the family cabin and pond for another 25 years. According to the National Park Service, which documents the history of the property, the agreement allowed the family to remain connected to its longtime retreat until April 2005, while the surrounding landscape became part of the protected national lakeshore.From homestead to retreatThe story of the property began before the Boekeloos arrived. In 1929, Joseph Cooper purchased 161 acres of land and established a homestead there.