March 29, 2024

Levering Antiques

Aug. 22, 2007
After a fire claimed her business in April 2006, Levering Antiques owner Mary Marks realized she had no choice but to rebuild. Now open in a renovated brick building next door in downtown Levering, the shop continues to offer an eclectic collection of rustic Rittenhouse, cottage and Michigan-oriented antiques.
Mary Marks is a transplanted Michigander at heart. “I moved here in 1979 from San Francisco,” says Marks. “My sister was in radio and I had come up in 1978 where she was a disc jockey-up in St. Ignace. I fell in love with Northern Michigan in the middle of February.”
Escaping urban life, Marks moved here at 18 and attended North Central Michigan College in Petoskey, graduating with a degree in broadcast arts. In 1986, Levering Antiques got its start when Marks encouraged her husband Chuck Copeland to open the doors to his two-building collection.
“We had so many people driving by, looking at these old buildings, so there was traffic,” remembers Marks, “and [Chuck] also was an expert in the antiques business.”
A write-up in the Detroit Free Press in 1991 brought customers from hundreds of miles away, and in 1996, when Copeland passed away, Marks continued the business.

THE FIRE
On its 20th anniversary, a fire – cause unknown – claimed Levering Antiques’ 1880s clapboard Walker building and the contents within.
“After we excavated,” says Marks, “I decided that the best thing for me to do, because I still had leftover inventory from odds and ends, [was rebuild]; so I just started rebuilding, repainting, redoing everything I did have, and it was quite cathartic.” The business re-opened last year while Marks continued to renovate. “I decided in October that this space might suit me well in the summer season.”
“I’m still focusing on the Rittenhouse, anything rustic, anything Michigan,” says Marks. “So the craftspeople that do bring things in are all from Michigan and that’s always been our theme.”
John Rittenhouse was a popular furniture maker who relocated to Cheboygan from Genesee Valley, New York. He began his furniture career in 1927 at the age of 48.
“When you think about the time, that’s pretty amazing,” says Marks. “And it was a good 20-year span while he was alive – he was the most prolific, rustic maker in the United States; and there was call for it because there were so many camps and so many cottages being built.”

UP-NORTH COLLECTION
Various furniture groupings are scattered throughout the store, as well as local original artwork. The rustic, Rittenhouse cabin pieces are comfortable and sturdy, complemented by traditional Beacon blankets – popular camp blankets manufactured in the 1920s through the 1950s. Other displays include white wicker cottage pieces and Northern Michigan-made artwork from local artists, such as Diane Kowalski and Elaine Levine.
Northern Michigan winters are the best time for Marks to add to her collection and search for special customer requests.
“I still look for older pieces, so pieces I really fall in love with are really from the 1930s and 1940s or earlier,” says Marks. Items that have a purpose and are well-built are high on the list, and her years in the business have given her connections.
“Through 20 years of doing it, you have certain people that look for you and you have certain techniques of feeling out the market and seeing who’s got what.”

Levering Antiques is open Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Call ahead for fall hours or to set up an appointment. The business is located at 5947 Robinson, in Levering. Take US-31 to Mill St. (just north of the blinking yellow light), go west for three blocks, turn north on Robinson. Look for the white sandwich board sign on US-31. Call 231-537-4972 for more information.

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