Oliver E. Kelley Farm - Elk River Minnesota

Kristo and the kids and I visited the Oliver Kelley Farm in Elk River Minnesota in June with our friends the Johnsons. I may have been there as a kid but I don't remember it. Its a great place to go with kids. They have role playing "cast" members but they don't play up the I am from another time thing they just answer questions and interact. Really nice. Hannah had a great time at the farm house with this woman "helping" her cook etc. Hannah would have spent a lot more time with her and at the farm if I had let her. Its a great place for her age group (8 - 9). I highly recommend it if you are visiting up this way. Its part of the Minnesota Historical Society and if you join the MHS you can go as many times as you want as well as a lot of other cool places. Its well worth the membership fee.


Here's Hannah cleaning vegetables! She'll do this at home too but not wearing the cool hat!

Ox outside the window.

Dinner?

Animal petting!

Oliver E. Kelley Farm - Elk River Minnesota

Giant chicken! He was crowing like mad when we were there.

A view of the farm. Its a l ittle rough in spots but really nice.

Pig snouts

The boys relax on a bench at the farm.

Burbank-Livingston-Griggs Residence in St. Paul, Minnesota

Italian Villa Style limestone mansion on Summit Ave. in St. Paul. The home was built around 1862 for James Burbank and expanded in 1925 by Mary Livingston Griggs. (info courtesty of National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota - A Guide).

James J. Hill House in St. Paul, Minnesota

Hannah was amazed by the thickness of the door at the James J. Hill house. This house is open to the public for tours. We didn't take the tour on this visit but we have in the past and its worth the trip. They also run walking tours of Summit Ave. from this site on various different days.

Richardsonian Romansque mansion with an art gallery built for railroad magnate - James J. Hill around 1889. (Info courtesy of National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota - A Guide by Mary Ann Nord).

Governor's Residence - Horace Irvine House - St. Paul, Minnesota

The now Governor's Mansion on Summit Ave. in Minnesota was donated to the State of Minnesota in 1965. It was originally built in 1911 for lumberman Horace Irvine. Jesse Ventura didn't like the residence when he was Governor and it was closed for a while.

Triune Masonic Temple in St. Paul Minnesota

Kristo and I bought a book, The National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota - A Guide complied by Mary Ann Nord, and we have been periodically taking time to go and look at the different homes/buildings mentioned in the book. Hannah likes it because she gets to check them off in the book when we find them and she has also helped us by using the GPS to find the site etc. We have had a lot of fun doing it and its educational.

I think its an apartment building now but this was the Triune Masonic Temple built in 1910 or so and designed by H.C. Struchen. Its a Classical Revival Brick building.

Frederick Spangenberg House - St. Paul Minnesota

This house was built around 1864 and was built by a German dairy farmer. Its a limestone farm house. (info courtesty of The National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota - A Guide - by Mary Ann Nord).