Maybury State Park is a community treasure with 944 acres of woodlands, meadows, a fishing pond and trails for walking/running, bicycling and horseback riding. It has the most miles of non-motorized trail per acre of any state park in Michigan, with six miles that take in the park’s natural beauty, traversing the entrance at 8 Mile to 7 Mile and from the horse stable area near Beck Road to the east-side trails that circle around to the gathering space/restrooms near the playground.
Following the retirement of Traci Sincock earlier this year, new park supervisor Kale Leftwich has the mission of managing this beloved park by keeping it “wild and beautiful.” He began his new job on April 1 and notes that he feels right at home.
He grew up across the street from the park, off Napier and 8 Mile, moving there with his family when he was 10 years old. While growing up, the park was his playground with a magical forest to explore. A graduate of Northville High School in 2001, he recalls hanging out with his friends who worked at D&D bike shop in Downtown Northville and together, they would ride out to the park and hit the mountain bike trails.
After studying industrial technology management for two years at Central Michigan University and working in commercial construction for 10 years, he decided to follow his heart and work at parks. He first started at Maybury in 2010 doing summer work. Three years later, he became a ranger at Seven Lakes State Park in Holly. Park rangers are commissioned park officers, who can make arrests and write tickets. In 2017, he served as head ranger at Brighton Recreation Area. While there, he was interviewed by the Rose Lake District supervisor panel and landed his dream job at Maybury.
He reports to the Rose Lake District supervisor. Major infrastructure planning and funding for Maybury starts at the state Dept. of Natural Resources, with Leftwich in charge of park financials and operations. He works closely with Friends of Maybury, Northville Parks & Recreation and other agencies on programming, fundraising and applying for grants for big projects.
In his day-to-day role, Leftwich splits his time doing office work (budget, payroll, operations, supervising, etc.) and being out in the park, often riding a golf cart to get to places quicker. Maybury has five career employees and 15 summer workers.
The park: now and in the future
With 100-foot tall oaks throughout the park, visitors feel like they are in a special place that allows them to slow down and savor all that nature offers. “The park is wild without being intimidating.”
When it became a park in 1975, Maybury was at the far edge of development; now it is surrounded by neighborhoods of luxury homes.
“This place becomes more relevant with the development around it,” Leftwich said. “There is much privacy, quietness and dark skies.”
Next year is the park’s 50-year anniversary. Before it became a park, the site served as a sanatorium for people with tuberculosis.
The community makes good use of Maybury, with 801,447 annual visits. This summer, the park hosted a horse camp, Girl Scout camp, and Parks and Rec. camp – all in the same week. Northville Senior Services held weekly group walks of up to 20 seniors in June as a way to increase socialization, exercise and commune with nature. The group, led by Deborah Davison, learned about the park from the head ranger and Leftwich also participated in that day’s walk.
Friends of Maybury is one of the park’s biggest boosters and collaborators in obtaining funds for special projects. This active volunteer group sponsors Music on Mondays and the bluebird boxes. The group obtains grants for trails and bridges and works with Scout troops to get many of these projects built. Members promote events on social media and gather volunteers for efforts such as garlic mustard pulls that reduce the invasive weed in the park. The “Friends” successfully launched a fundraising drive for the new 7 Mile non-motorized entrance.
There are several major upgrades in the works that will improve access, help the environment, and further enhance people’s enjoyment of the park. Engineering work will start in 2025 on the pedestrian/bicycle entrance at 7 Mile, paired with a self-activated traffic light at the crosswalk to be built. The Dept. of Technology, Management and Budget will bid the project this fall.
In separate projects, the dam that feeds into the fishing pond will be fortified and a leak at the culvert will be repaired so water flowing into the pond will cause it to rise two to three feet higher than it is now. This will improve the recreational use of the pond as well as aesthetics. The mountain bike trail will be reconfigured to prevent erosion with a trail going around the rim. A trail consultant has been commissioned to work on the project.
There’s another community benefit at the park. The new park headquarters building, completed in 2020, was built for staff offices and meeting space, to house utility vehicles and equipment, and to serve as a community shelter during tornadoes. It can also be used by local police departments for staging during drills or actual emergencies.
The park is open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. You may wonder what people do at the park at night. Leftwich says they light their way and continue riding bikes, walking or running along the pathway or trails and also come to look at the night sky, which is one of the darkest places in the area for celestial viewing.
In addition to his work, Leftwich enjoys family life with his wife, Rachel, and children, Bennett, 6, and Felicity, 8 years old. He has returned to 8 Mile and Napier, having built his family home on a portion of his parent’s land. Together, the family enjoys bike riding at Maybury. The kids attend Northville District Schools. They also love traveling to national parks; some of Kale’s favorites are Glacier and Yosemite.
Fun facts about Maybury
• Free firewood (cut your own) – Individuals can request a permit to cut firewood from a tree that has fallen in an undesirable location, such as on a trail. Otherwise, fallen trees are left in place to replenish the forest from their nutritious bark that feeds insects and small animals and decomposes to add nutrients to the forest floor.
• The park has among the darkest skies in southeastern Michigan; it provides for great night sky viewing up to 10 p.m., when the park closes.
• Supervisor Kale Leftwich began his job on April Fool’s Day. It’s now his favorite holiday. Former Supervisor Traci Sincock retired on Groundhog Day. She says she will always remember her final day at that beautiful park and looked forward to an early spring, as predicted by Punxsutawney Phil, who did not see his shadow.
• Maybury is in the Rose Lake District, which is based near Lansing. Other parks in the district are Island Lake Recreation Area, Brighton Recreation Area, Pinckney Recreation Area, Waterloo Recreation Area, Hayes State Park, Ionia Recreation Area and Sterling State Park. Fifteen years ago, Maybury was in the metro district, along with Proud Lake Recreation Area, Highland Recreation Area, Pontiac Lake Recreation Area, Seven Lakes State Park, Holly State Recreation Area, Dodge #4 State Park, Ortonville State Recreation Area, Bald Mountain State Recreation Area and Lakeport State Recreation Area. You can see there are plenty of parks to enjoy within a short drive from Northville.
• It’s free to enter a state park for pedestrians and bicyclists. The parks only charge for those entering in a vehicle. State park vehicle permits only cost $14 annually if purchased during license plate renewals.
• The number one request by park visitors is for a year-round, modern restroom. Currently, the two sets of restrooms are housed in buildings that aren’t equipped with heating systems or insulation. There are vault outhouses for use year-round.
• Maybury Park staff are happy to host community runs, especially those involving fundraising for charity. They offer good facilities and great trails.
• Over the summer, STEP (Services to Enhance Potential) partnered with the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Michigan Rehabilitation Services (MRS) to offer a Work-Based Learning Experience at Maybury State Park. The interns engage in a variety of skill-building activities, as well as forestry fieldwork, recreation management, and other infrastructure maintenance activities. Interns learn to trim trails, make small maintenance repairs, and safely use hand tools.
If you have any questions about the park, please contact Leftwich by phone 248-349-8390 or
email.