A Brief History
Cranberry Lake Farm
Seymour Fletcher purchased 80 acres of this land from the United States government in 1836. He sold the property the following year to John Axford.
Early Settlement
The early settler families of Axford, Taylor, and Kline owned and probably farmed this land until about 1908. They likely built a cabin on the property and, eventually, the earliest section of the present house around 1840.
The Main House
The main house is an example of Greek Revival architecture dating from about 1840. Later additions display a simple Arts and Crafts influence, particularly in the porch and east side of the house, reflecting a style popular from about 1890 through 1940.
The interior includes a massive fieldstone fireplace and chandelier dating from approximately 1915–1920. The dining room is especially notable for its historic decoration.
The Carriage and Caretaker Houses
The Carriage House behind the main house features distinctive architectural styling and is attached to a greenhouse that connects with the Caretaker House.
The yellow Caretaker House appears to have been expanded during the late 1930s over an earlier stone and log basement. Its exterior has been restored and the interior renovated. The building is currently leased by the Oakland Township Historical Society for use as its museum.
The Coffin Family
From 1939 to 1951, Cranberry Lake Farm was used as a summer home by the Howard Aldridge Coffin family, who had business interests in Detroit.
Howard A. Coffin was an oil company executive who lived with his wife, Abbie, and their family in Detroit's Sherwood Forest neighborhood near Palmer Park. He later represented Michigan's Thirteenth Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives from 1947 to 1949.
The Farmstead
The outbuildings, together with the main house and silo, comprise a farmstead that includes ten buildings, a garden, and an orchard.
The main barn once stood next to the silo. Its foundation remains visible today. The barn burned to the ground in 1981, although historic photographs survive courtesy of neighbors in the area.
Today, the 16-acre Cranberry Lake Farm Historic District, including the surviving historic buildings, forms part of Cranberry Lake Park, a 233-acre park owned by the Charter Township of Oakland.
Historic Recognition
The Axford-Coffin Farm, known today as Cranberry Lake Farm, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and has a Michigan Historical Marker commemorating the site's importance to Oakland Township's heritage.
Restoration of the site was funded in part by Oakland Township's historic preservation millage.