In 1839, the Reverend Peter Dougherty was sent to the Grand Traverse Region by the Presbyterian Board of Missions to establish a church and school for the Native Americans who inhabited the area. In May of that year, Chief Ahgosa of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, living on the Old Mission Peninsula, asked Dougherty to move his mission from the mouth of the Elk River to the present day site of Old Mission, Michigan, 18 miles north of Traverse City.
 

The mission had a special relationship with the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians who met under the Council Pine

In 1842, Dougherty built his home, now part of the Dougherty Historic Home Site, in a settlement which consisted of a church, schoolhouse, wigwams and cabins. The home is believed to be the first post and beam house in the lower peninsula north of Grand Rapids.

When the federal government opened Leelanau County, the Reverend Dougherty and his flock decided it would be better to move their homes to this more secure location. In 1852, they moved across the bay to what became Omena, Michigan where there was land available for Native Americans to purchase.

In 1861, Dougherty sold his home at Old Mission to Solon Rushmore. It remained in the Rushmore family for approximately 100 years. The Rushmores farmed the land and later turned the home into an inn which, with its ten guest rooms, catered to resorters arriving by steamship. In 1956, the home was placed on the Michigan Historic Sites Register. In 1961 it was sold to Virginia Larson and after her death, her heirs, David and Dan Larson, granted an option to purchase the home and its 15 surrounding acres to the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy. In 2006, it was acquired by Peninsula Township and today it is administered by the Peter Dougherty Society.

The Dougherty Historic Home Site is now part of the Michigan Historic Preservation Network. The home and surrounding grounds require extensive restoration. When completed, the Home Site will become an historical, cultural and educational center for all visitors with plans for the surrounding 15 acres calling for heirloom orchards and gardens which will reflect farming in the late 19th century.

Other expressed thoughts about the purpose and use of the Historic Home Site:

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