Next Match at the 2023 Haven Hill Festival - 10:00 am, Saturday, September 23 with the Royal Oak Wahoos
Haven Hill Barn Stormers and the Royal Oak Wahoos - Saturday, September 23 at the Goose Meadow Ball Field in Highland State Recreation Area.
ABOVE: The 2022 Haven Hill Barn StoRmers Vintage Base Ball Club at Goose Meadow Ball Field. PHOTo CREDIT: Chris Wall
ABOVE: OUR haven hill festival vintage base ball game guests… the royal oak wahoos!
ABOVE: The 2022 Haven Hill gate House Family Nine. Photo Credit: Chris Wall
1860's Vintage Base Ball at the Haven Hill Festival
The Haven Hill Barn Stormers Host the Royal Oak Wahoos!
Goose Meadow Ball Field at Highland State Recreation Area
The Friends of Highland Recreation Area are proud to host an 1860's reenactment base ball game each year at the Goose Meadow Ball Field in Highland State Recreation Area.
The Haven Hill Festival, a celebration of the Highland State Recreation Area and the historic Edsel and Eleanor Ford estate, will be held on a Saturday from 10:00 am until 3:00 pm. Activities will include historic exhibits, summer food and beverages, music, children’s activities, Model A Ford cars on display, and the historic base ball game at 10:00 am. Come on out and enjoy Haven Hill! People interested in supporting this year’s event, or playing in the base ball game, should call (248) 494-8919 or email fohravolunteer@gmail.com.
Historic base ball matches across America reenact some of the earliest periods of the game, when players had no gloves on their hands, wore more formal clothing as uniforms, and enjoyed the sport as a gentlemanly exercise.
Haven Hill Barn Stormers and the Gate House Family Nine
The first game at the Goose Meadow ball field at Haven Hill in 2010 was inspired by the Rochester Grangers, a vintage base ball team from the Rochester Museum at the Van Hoosen Farm in Rochester, Michigan. The Grangers sparked what is now a Haven Hill Festival tradition. The 2011 Festival interested enough players and fans to form two teams, allowing the Barn Stormers to play against the park’s new team the “Gate House Family Nine”. A "Nine" was a common name for a ball club in the era. Both teams are named after historic buildings at Haven Hill that are under renovation by the Friends group.
