Andrew Peterson Farmstead Blog

It has been a while since I have posted and I apologize for the lapse.  It has been busy, but a good busy.  To bring you up to speed, last year, Representative Nash helped get us an earmark from the State’s Legacy fund.  This means that we did not have to write a grant, but will receive funds for the Peterson project. The grant paperwork will still need to be completed, but it is not a competitive grant. The Minnesota Historical Society holds the funds until we use them.  In total $80,000 was earmarked from the State’s Legacy budget last year and this.  In total, $160,000.  The funds can be used for rehabilitation on any of the farm buildings.

We have a total of five buildings yet to be rehabilitated, the granary, the south barn, the house, the smoke house and the 1914 (big) barn. The Historic Structures Report, completed in December of 2017,  noted that the 1914 barn was outside of the Period of Significance for Andrew Peterson.  The barn is on the same site as an earlier barn and uses many of the timbers from that earlier barn, but was built 16 years after Peterson died.  Why this is so important is because future Legacy money cannot be used on the 1914 barn, but the money received through the earmark is.  After much discussion, the CCHS board decided that we wanted to save the 1914 barn and use it for an interpretive center and public use space. It came down to either tearing down the 1914 barn and building a new interpretive center or saving the building and using it for the center.  It was decided that saving it would allow us the best chance at preserving the atmosphere of the farm and was the best use of resources. Keep in mind, that the money we had from the earmark could be used on the 1914 barn, but future Legacy monies could not.  If we wanted to save the building this was the best chance we had at doing so.  By working on the 1914 barn now, we also will be able to use the building to create a revenue stream that will help rehabilitate the other buildings.

Because we had to get the permissions from SHPO, and complete the competitive bidding process, it has taken us a year to begin work on the building. But, we are finally starting work.  Miller Dunwiddie is the firm that will be doing the construction drawings and overseeing work by Hansen HomeTech and Patrick Sieben.  HomeTech will do the rehabilitation construction work and Patrick the stone masonry work.  Following the recommendations of the Historic Structures Report, the first step is to clean out the 1914 barn, south barn and granary, then spray for powder post beetles.

Power post beetles eat little holes into old wood, leaving the wood very weak and ultimately will cause the building to collapse. The do not harm wood cut today, for some reason.  All the buildings at the farm are affected. The spray works by coating the outer part of the wood and penetrates to a small degree into the wood.  When the beetle leaves the hole, it comes in contact with the spray and dies.

Tomorrow morning, I will be at the farm overseeing the moving of the carriages Ward left us, from the middle barn to the north barn.  Work will be done over the next two weeks to clean out the 1914 barn, south barn, and granary.  After that is done, they will spray all three buildings for powder post beetles.  Miller Dunwiddie will then begin work on construction investigation and drawings which are expected to be done early fall.  Once the drawings are reviewed and approved by SHPO, Hansen HomeTech and Patrick take over.  The process will stabilize the building for future reuse. Phase two for the 1914 barn will be the redesign as an interpretive center and public event space.

Phew!

Two final things, Corvus North has been hired to help with the capitol fundraising.  Over the next 2 months we will be conducting a feasibility study which should tell us how much we can expect to raise. Some of you may get a letter asking for permission for an interview.  Please consider participating. The amount determined that we can raise, will be given to the Jeffris Foundation.  Right now, our focus of the capitol fundraising will be to raise money to rehabilitate the house, and hopefully the granary and south barn. The smoke house will be getting a new roof this summer, and once permission is received from SHPO will get new paint on the trim as well.

Second, with the help of St. John’s intern Dan Rhodes, we are putting together a business plan for the farm.  It is a massive document, but will be a road map for the next 10 years.  It will be done mid August.

We are moving forward, and with your help we will continue to do so.   Thank you everyone for your continued support and interest in the farm.

Wendy

It has been a while since I have written.  The last few months have been a flurry of finishing the Historic Structures Report (HSR), completing the end of the year documents and preparing for the Annual Report.

The HSR was to be completed by May, 2017. A month extension was given in order for archaeological report to be incorporated.  June came and went and the report was still not complete.  There were a number of issues, but the largest was caused by a stand off between MacDonald & Mack’s writer, Angela versus the CCHS board and staff. Angela was intent upon having the middle barn, built in 1914, torn down, or as she preferred to call it, “deconstructed”.  Our CCHS board was just as adamant about keeping it.

To understand Angela’s argument we must look at the original National Register nomination that states the farm is on the National Register due to Peterson’s horticultural research with apples.  Peterson died in 1898.  This puts the barn, built in 1914 outside the period of significance (PoS).

The large middle barn we learned was built on the foundation of an earlier barn started in 1873.  If you have been in the large barn, you will see that the west part of the foundation is cement block.  The east end is made of field stone. The rafters of the current building incorporate the rafters of the earlier barn.  Angela strongly encouraged us to deconstruct the barn that is standing and reconstruct the earlier building on the stone foundation. This option was discussed with the Jeffris Foundation.  They recommended that the option provided by Angela was not feasible.  They had seen people try it with disastrous results.

The other thing to consider was, with the 1914 barn outside the PoS it was not eligible to be on the National Register.  This fact was a possible positive and a possible negative.  Negatively, if it was not on the Register, the barn was not eligible for Legacy grant funding.  This would make finding funds to repair and restore it very difficult.

If we fought to put the building on the National Register using Elsa and the work she did to keep the farm running after Andrew died, we could use Legacy funds, but could not use the building in a modern way.

On the positive side, without the building on the Register we could do what we wanted with the building, i.e. not tear it down.  We could add heat, cooling, bathrooms and make it into an interpretive or event center.

In the end, the decision was easy when we learned that the funds received in 2017/18 from Legacy was available to use on the middle barn whether it was on the Register or not.  Future funding from Legacy would not.  Even better, we learned that not only were the funds we had enough to have the architectural/engineering drawings completed, AND the stone work on the ALL the building foundations completed, it was enough to make the middle barn usable for the public.

What is really nice about all this, is that once the 1914 barn is usable we can hold events there.  This will provide income for more construction work on the buildings.

If all of this sounds complex.  It is.  If you are interested in reading through the HSR, click on the link below, OR you can now find updated reports in the top center block of our website.  www.carvercountyhistoricalsociety.org

https://www.carvercountyhistoricalsociety.org/pdf_viewer.php?file=pdfs/APF-COMBINED_PDF-12-20-2017.pdf

I cannot believe it has been just over 3 months since my last post.  Life does get busy.  This Wednesday, I will be presenting about my trip to Sweden at the American Swedish Institute.  This will include the full trip and not just what i have been able to post on this blog, which I still plan to complete.  Here are the details:

“Wendy Petersen Biorn, will be the speaker for this month’s” Wednesday Wanderings–Afternoons at ASI”, this Wednesday, Nov 8th, 1–2pm.  Her presentation will primarily be about her trip to Sweden this past summer, to learn about cultural and architectural aspects of life in Sweden during the period prior to immigration by many to America.  What she learned ties in with present-day activities involving the preservation of the Historic Andrew Peterson Farmstead, on Highway 5 in Waconia.  Wendy is the Executive Dir, Carver County Historical Society.  This program is free for ASI members, and included in museum admission for non-members.”

The American Swedish Institute is located at  2600 Park Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55407

First business.  We are looking for volunteers to man our tent located at the granary. The fair is on between August 9th and the 13th.  In exchange for two hours of your time, you will receive a ticket to the fair! Two people per slot, so bring a friend. To sign up for a time slot click on the below link.  It will take you to a spread sheet where you can choose a time period.  Please leave enough information for us to reach you to get you your ticket.  Or you can call us at 952-442-4234.

Carver County Historical fair signup sheet

The Historic Structures Report for the Peterson Farmstead is to be submitted to us by July 31.  Once it is approved, it will be posted here for everyone to review.  Based on this we will be able to decide how much we will need to fund raise over the next 3 years.

We have a new tenant in the Peterson house.  Joel and his wife Taylor moved in the first of July.  Joel is a carpenter by trade, which will help us immensely.  For reduced rent he will be helping us with construction projects like making a handicapped ramp for the north barn, step railing for the house, benches, and a variety of other things.  We are very lucky to have the two of them.

Now back to Delsbo and Sweden

The American Swedish Institute has asked me to speak about my trip on November 8th at 1 PM.  The location with be at ASI. Everyone is welcome.

The trip to Sweden was one that has taken me a while to digest.  It really was a series of once in a life time trips.  The people I met and places I visited were wonderful beyond words.

My visit to Delsbo was initiated by the newspaper article written by Lars Sönnergren noting my visit and the connection between Andrew Peterson and Moberg’s Emigrant books.  The comparison ignited the people near Delsbo, as they believed that Moberg’s Karl Oskar was a real person who lived near Delsbo.  The reasoning was that Lindström Minnesota was founded by a man from the area of Delsbo, and the location of Emigrant books were in Lindström. Seb Bertilsson from Delsbo contacted me initially to dispute our claim that Moberg used Peterson diaries as a source for The Emigrants.  He invited me to visit him and the area, so they could show me that I was wrong.  At that point, I should have just back away and let it go.  But, as you probably know, I am not one to ignore a question.  Seb and I had many pleasant communications prior to my trip and I accepted his offer to visit. Our position has always been that there were many sources used by Moberg for his books, and that Karl Oskar is fictional.

From Uppsala, I drove about two hours to the northwest.  I met Seb at his mothers house.  From there, I followed him farther north to an area near Hassela. The roads from this point became gravel, then dirt, and we finally turned down a very small driveway/road and arrived at my first open air museum.  After parking, Seb took me into the first building where they had lunch prepared.  Sitting down to eat, I was immediately bombarded with Swedish genealogists showing me how Karl Oskar was a real person from the area and how this man was the founder of Lindström. Due to language and unexpected barrage, it took me a while to understand what they were telling me.  I would like to note here, that the below picture on the left, is my favorite photo from the whole trip.

The buildings at this location were fabulous for research, and everyone so willing to help me.  Later, I learned there was a restored water mill on the site.  The water flowed from a pond down a chute and powered the water wheel.  The mill was multi-functional in that it would cut shingles, grind grain, and provide power.

I stayed in the upper level of a Templar building, used for events and meetings.    I had heard of the Knights Templar but was unaware of a modern Templar group. The discussion about what is a Templar was interesting.  They said Templar group started in the area, which was confusing for me.  After I returned home, I learned that the Swedish Templar is what we would call the Freemasons.  Lesson learned- different languages, different meanings for the same word.

The Swedish Templar (Freemason) house I stayed in.

Seb took me on a tour of the area which highlighted the beauty of the area- we also visited a number of other locations where I could learn more about the building structures.  Below right- a root cellar above ground due to the inability to dig one- to much rock, just under the subsoil.

On the last day, in Delsbo I was interviewed by the Swedish National Radio station.  I told the announcer in advance that I was not going to discuss or be brought into a disagreement about who the “real” Karl Oskar was, but was very happy to discuss why I was there.  After she talked to me, she talked – in Swedish-to the man who was so adamant that Karl Oskar was real. I asked about the interview and if what he said was ok.  I was told, “Don’t worry, it was all good.  He doesn’t like anyone- but he likes you.”  A deep sign of relief.  Later, a man recognized us and talked to Seb. He said he had heard the radio broadcast as was very supportive of my work and the exchange going on between the US and Sweden.

The radio broadcast can be heard by clicking on the below link.  Know my part is only about 3 minutes in the beginning.  The rest is in Swedish.

http://sverigesradio.se/sida/avsnitt/900622?programid=318

After the radio show, I returned to Delsbo and stayed with Seb’s mother again.  The next day I headed for the Falun copper mines,  the Dala horse factory and the Valby open air  museum at Västerås.

Next: the preserving qualities of copper, the European Open Air Museums, and the strangest place to sleep —ever.

Before leaving Stockholm, I traveled for two hours via boat to the World Heritage site Birka.  Birka is one of the places on my trip that I was adamant to visit.  This island to the west of Stockholm was an important trading center for the Vikings, which handled goods from Scandinavia as well as Central and Eastern Europe and the Orient. During the tour we learned that Vikings were not all the raiders that we so often associate with Vikings. Per the Swedish tour guide, the more vicious Vikings were Danish. From various comments I learned there is still a friendly feud between the Swedes and the Danes.  The Vikings also did not have horns on their helmets.

The island has many Viking burial mounds.  The mounds were used before Vikings became Christians and changed their practices to burying people in a more traditional cemetery.  The mounds are interesting in that you can tell the importance of a person by the size of the mound.  Things that looked like rocks to me were actually markers for the mounds.  Women mounds were marked by  round rocks.

After leaving Stockholm, I drove to Uppsala, just north of Stockholm by about an hour.  Uppsala is home to the Carl Linnaeus, one of the most important scientists ever, who was professor of medicine at Uppsala University in the 18th century. It was at the Linnaeus Gardens that was hoping to learn about native Swedish plants.  I visited 13th century Uppsala Cathedral for Gothic architecture, priceless relics and treasures, and the Uppsala Museum to learn more about Swedish history and culture. I stayed at an Air BnB and met a lovely lady who took me to a “loppis” which I learned literally means flea, so we visited a flea market.

Carl Linnaeus

At the Carl Linnaeus Museum I learned not only about plants, I saw a new way of showing visitors the museum. As one might expect, many languages are spoken by visitors at the museum.  When I checked in, they asked me what language I needed, then gave me a small laser light.  When I visited each room, I could point the light at a spot and hear the interpretation for the room in my headset.  Parts of the gardens were being used for a wedding, which added even more to the beautiful of them.  At the gift shop I purchased one package of seeds of each variety.  Since they were packaged, I felt I could take them home, only to find out in Minneapolis, I could not.  What plants are ok for use on the Peterson farm?  Definitely peonies, irises, lilacs, rhubarb and a lot more that I wouldn’t have felt would be appropriate.

Uppsala Cathedral

The Uppsala Cathedral is very impressive.  There are crypts around the edges of the buildings where wealthy benefactors and royalty are buried.  Just when I thought I had seen an impressive stature or painting or a person I recognized I came to another more impressive crypt or more powerful person.

Uppsala Slott (castle)

The Uppsala Slott is opposite the Cathedral.  The photo below shows the Cathedral view from the castle.  The castle now houses a museum which was filled with artwork, and a traveling display.  The large lower photo shows the bell tower.

Uppsala Museum

The Uppsala Museum is a treasure.  The history in the museum alone was worth the visit, but they had a traveling tattoo display which was wonderful.  One exhibit piece in the main museum particularly caught my attention.  It was a door, shown bottom left, from a prison.  The man in prison had carved the following in the door.  Roughly in English it says, ” On February 9, 1631 I came to this place.  On September 28, 1631 I died.

Loppis and Urilka

Urlika (below top left) was my host at the air BnB in Uppsala.  She took me to a loppis where I purchased THREE dala horses for about $30.  One of them would have cost me at least that much in a store, if not more.  The lady top right, was selling linen to raise funds for a children’s orphanage in Africa.  After I bought the linen and left, I came back and had the picture taken.  She then gave me a small packet of matches as a thank you.

For those not familiar with an air BnB, it is the home of a person who agrees to rent out a room to people.  The people I met on this trip really made it.  To Urlika and the lady who sold me the linen.  Thank you so much.

Next time: North I go to Dalsbo and even more wonderful people, who now call me part of their family.