Lois & Jake 1977

History of COPPERLAND ARTS & CRAFTS

Jake Gariepy worked twenty-eight years as a furnace operator for the Calumet & Hecla Mining Co. in Hubbell Mi. In 1968, the mining company ended operations in Upper Michigan’s Copper Country.

He found work with the area’s only coppersmith and learned the craft. He was a welder on the famous Bishop Baraga Statue erected in 1972 that now overlooks Keweenaw Bay between L’anse and Baraga.

When his employer left the Copper Country, Jake & Lois opened Copperland’s doors in 1977 in the former Calumet & Hecla fire hall/machine shop building that is now part of the Houghton County Museum.

Jake's son Terry, and his wife Jean, began working with him in the mid 1980s and

in 1989 he transferred  ownership to his son. Jake worked with them until 1991.

Copperland has been operated by the Gariepy family since 1977. It is now owned and operated by Jean Gariepy, Jake’s daughter-in-law.

Copperland is the area’s only full time copper shop that crafts on site.

We pride ourselves in creating quality copper sculptures at reasonable prices

WE ARE THE HOME OF THE ORIGINALS.

Jean and grandson Jake Gariepy 2006