About

The Felt Estate is a historic home museum, event venue, and community gathering place between Holland and Saugatuck, on the shores of Lake Michigan, that welcomes nearly 30,000 visitors annually. The estate started as the summer home of inventor and industrialist Dorr E. Felt, whose most iconic invention was the Comptometer (the first mechanical calculator). In later years, the property became a minor seminary, whose graduates include Robert Prevost, now known as Pope Leo XIV. After the seminary closed, the property was converted to a medium-security prison and State Police post. In the late 1990s, the prison closed, leaving the future of the mansion and outbuildings uncertain. That's when a coalition of local volunteers launched a restoration project, led by Patty Meyer, to save the mansion and the history it contains.