Wisner House

The Wisner House at Pine Grove belonged to Moses Wisner, who was governor of Michigan, 1859-1860. Born in New York State in 1815, Wisner received only a common school education. In 1837 he emigrated to Michigan where he tried farming but abandoned it to read law in his brother's Pontiac law office. Wisner began to practice law and became active in the emerging Republican party; he took part in its first national convention held at Jackson, Michigan, in 1854. By 1858 he was the Republican candidate for governor and was elected for a two-year term. With the outbreak of the Civil War, ex-governor Wisner was appointed to raise a regiment of local men. This he accomplished in July and August of 1862; the unit, the Twenty-Second Infantry Regiment, went on to fight at the Battle of Chickamauga. However, Colonel Wisner died of typhoid fever in January, 1863, before the battle took place. Wisner had settled permanently in Pontiac around 1844 and contracted the building of his house in 1845. Three years later he brought his young bride Angeolina Hascall to Pine Grove. When Wisner was elected governor the house was redecorated to serve as his official residence; he spent little time in Lansing, and the house became a focal point for official business and entertainment. After Wisner's death, it was Angeolina Wisner's wish that the house be kept as it had been in the Governor's day. She resided there until her death in 1905. Maintained by the family until 1945, the house was sold to the Oakland County Pioneer and Historical Society in that year to be maintained as a house museum.

Greek Revival architecture predominates at the Wisner House. Its two-story main section is accented by a single story, hip-roofed wing with a colonnade of fluted Doric columns. Originally a parapet topped this wing, but it has been removed. A flat-roofed portico graces the main entrance. The windows are six over six with sliding sashes, stone sills and lintels. The house is red brick, but the pattern of brick-laying in the kitchen wing at the rear of the house suggests that the wing was built before the rest of the house. The house contains many objects which belonged to Governor Wisner and his family. Redecorating at the time Wisner became governor included enlarging the formal parlor to use for official functions and placing the seal of Michigan over the doorway leading to the Governor's study. Pine Grove was so called for the dense pines Wisner planted around the house. Today only four of the old pines remain. The smokehouse and root cellar have been restored and stand behind the house. Other restoration work is planned for the future, including the planting of tall pines.