Grand Rapids, Minnesota
Timbered Dreams of Origin
Listening to the aspen quaking or seeing the bark of birch trees’ curly flaps flutter as much as their leaves, is calming.
It can be done in isolation, but imagine you’re on a path walking through acres of this majestic beauty?
Is it any wonder that the Japanese concept of ‘Forest Bathing’ is popular?
‘Shinrin-yoku,’ is the term for enjoying the restorative power of simply being in a forest.
Trees creak, sway, and soothe.
I’ve experienced this within the Forest History Center in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.
Within steps of the interpretive center, I was able to quickly see 12 miles with 360° visibility and navigate downstream to a living history site.
A logging camp cook had hot johnny-cakes and fried potatoes ready for me before the teamsters snaked the logs.
Trained historians educated any transient passersby in the reenactments of the timber harvesting process dated back more than one-hundred years.
Forest History Center in Grand Rapids, MN, is managed by the Minnesota Historical Society.
The interpretive center on site is a fun, self-paced learning experience.
Renting a kayak or riding in a horse drawn sleigh ride, pending an obvious switch in seasons, along a stunning shoreline are also choices.
Cap off the trip by visiting a living history logging camp.
You’ll be immersed in the 1900’s and walk through buildings used at that time or talk to camp historians.
Forest History Center
2609 County Road 76
Grand Rapids, MN 55744-8646
[email protected]
218-327-4482
Climb a 100-foot fire tower, built in 1934.
If you visit during the peak fall color season, you will be rewarded with a colorful vignette you’ll never want to forget.
Judy Garland, star of Wizard of Oz and other feature roles, had her childhood home in Grand Rapids, MN.
It’s now a museum where you can see well-preserved details of a typical home for that region.
The Lost 40: Within the Chippewa National Forest outside of Northome, Minnesota, there are 40 acres that have never been logged.
These 40 acres contain some of the last old-growth trees within Minnesota.
The story goes that in 1882, a surveyor made a mistake and didn’t include these 40 acres.
Other trees in the area were destined to be logged, but the surveyor’s error made for a stunning discovery years later.
The Department of Natural Resources estimates some of these red and white pine trees are 200 years old.
To help you place the age of The Lost 40, these majestic beauties were small saplings when James Monroe was sworn in for his second term.
A young Emily Roebling (1803-1903) was the first female engineer and along with her husband, worked on the Brooklyn Bridge.
French commander Marquis de Lafayette fought against American colonists during the American Revolution, and 50 years later (when these trees were saplings) was invited by our federal government to tour our country.
He visited 24 states.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a teenager when The Lost 40 trees were starting to grow.
Please consider supporting living history museums through your patronage.
Pass down these lumberjack stories, making your own memories in the process.
Or, consider reading a newer mystery like Michael Lindley’s The Fire Tower (2021).
Fire towers and the timber legacy continue to captivate readers’ interest.
Carys
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