Marine Mill Site--Friday History Field Trip #6, On Saturday

(This post is part of the back log I am working on. If you are getting it in a reader, I apologize, things will be out of order!)Every year our family joins my family of origin and some extended family members for a 4 day camping trip in October. We go to William O'Brien State Park, which is close to the Twin Cities metro area. That allows those who don't want to camp to come out for a day or two. The park is coincidentally just down the St. Croix River from our last Friday History Field Trip--Folsom House.

Because we were camping this weekend, I chose a site close to the campground for our Friday History Field Trip--the mill site at Marine on St. Croix. Since Friday was a big day of visitors--there were 9 children 7 and under--we chose to wait a day and go on this particular field trip on Saturday.



The site is basically interpretive signs marking the ruins of of what was the first commercial saw mill in Minnesota. It was built in 1839, prior to Minnesota becoming a state, and closed in 1895. Seems like a short lifespan, but the raw lumber was farther away by then, I am sure. All that remains are the stone foundations of some of the buildings. The signs help you to envision how much actually stood here, though, over 115 years ago.



Marine on St. Croix is a cute little town, too, so some in our group ventured into the little shops--getting coffees and hot cocoas and $2 chocolates.



Across the street from the actual mill site there is a cabin marked with a historical marker sign as an "Early Settler's Cabin." We went and read the sign, viewed a mill pond (at least I am pretty sure that is what is was, I didn't photograph the sign, so I can't remember for sure). It is a restored cabin, you can see in the picture where the original logs are (the grey at the top).



The sites are small and easy to see in a short amount of time. We managed to squeeze them in between rain showers (so it was really wet, but not bad). This field trip did, however, prove to me that it is sometimes better to go alone than with a group. The other 7-year-old was not as interested in history. Kiddo was torn between running ahead with the him and going slower and soaking it all in. Thankfully it is an easy site to revisit, maybe in the summer!

Folsom House--Friday History Field Trip #5

(This post is part of the back log I am working on. If you are getting it in a reader, I apologize, things will be out of order!) This week's Friday History Field Trip was to Folsom House in Taylors Falls, MN. I was very excited. I have family history in Taylors Falls. I have been to the area many times over the years, but I had never once even HEARD of Folsom house.



Folsom House was built by W.H.C. Folsom who made his fortune in lumber among other things. He served in the state house and senate early in the state's history. He moved his family into the house in 1850, and the house remained in the family until it was turned over to the Historical Society. Because the house remained in the family, and because the family never fell on hard times, the house is still filled with the belongings of the family. There are some very unique items--I won't give away all the secrets, some of them you just have to see for yourself! But there is a unique collection of cups and a number of unique toys. The kitchen tools, however, are perhaps the most interesting.



Normally there are guided tours of the house, and that is what we expected. We happened to go, however, on the first day of a weekend-long quilt show in the house. This meant that we did not get a tour, unfortunately. We are good at asking questions, though, so we still learned a great deal. There are two parlors in the house--the men's parlor, and the women's parlor. They are side by side and were open to each other when we visited, but we were told what they were. There is a beautiful library, a large dining room, and several bedrooms upstairs--two of which you can go through.



Instead of windows on one whole side of the house--where the parlors are on the first floor and bedrooms on the second floor--there are doors. Four of them. I believe they said it had to do with how windows were viewed for the value of the house (and thus the taxes). As is the case in many houses this age, there are few closets. One that we saw. Closets were considered rooms and you were taxed based on the number of rooms, thus no closets. At least that is what I have been told! It is also true, however, that they had fewer possessions they would have placed in a closet, so it would have been much less necessary to have a closet.



One of the fun things we did was to go through the house (particularly the parlors) and note the chairs. We have become "chair historians," and we like to see which chairs are for the men (chairs with arms) and which are for the women (those without). We learned about chairs at Civil War Day at Fort Snelling this year, and it adds some fun to our tours! We also looked at the stair case, which was exceptionally wide. Apparently it was a status symbol to have a wide staircase. It was also more accommodating of hoop skirts, the fashion of the day.



Kutey loved this lamp in the men's parlor. It was very unique. And fragile. One pane had already been replaced, it appeared, and another was cracked horribly. It didn't detract from Kutey's fascination, however! I love seeing what catches the kids eye when we go to places like this. I might not have even noticed this lamp!


The field trip was a good one, but I think we'll be visiting Folsom House again when they are giving tours. We'd like to learn more!