After a series of poor harvests in the 1850s, Swedes began to join the wave of immigrants coming to Minnesota. Cheap travel was available on ships carrying iron ore to New York -- only $12 for a trip that took about 7 weeks. Seventy-five percent were unemployed farmers and some found homes in a fertile area of Minnesota, naming their town Vasa after the Swedish royal family.
The town is mostly gone, but an old schoolhouse and one residence have been made into a small museum where you can imagine what life was like for these brave families.
All items in the museum are from homes in Vasa. They are explained with sweet handwritten tags, many in old and shaky handwriting.
Wood stoves for cooking and heating
How many buckets would you have to heat on the stove to fill the tub for the family's Saturday night bath?
Tall, steep stairs
to the family bedroom.
Hmmm . . . I think these would have been hidden away under the bed.
Tak sa mycket for reading my blog!
Yes under the bed and I am not so sure about that doiley. Now that is some bath tub...I have never seen one like that before... way cool:)
ReplyDeleteCynthia, the life in the past was hard and they had to work so hard to survive. The stove I have seen in many museums in my country.
ReplyDeleteGoodness! Look at the lace cover on the one chamber pot! And the quilt caught my eye too.
ReplyDeleteYou knew you were poor when you didn't have a pot to p*** in springs to mind when I look at the pots. I love old wood burners.
ReplyDeleteI think it wonderful that the items have been donated and the tags written by the donors. The items become so much more precious and interesting.
ReplyDeleteLove those old artifacts, Cynthia... such fun to visit them in unusual places. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting glimpses of how things used to be. We certainly have a much easier time today. Great photos.
ReplyDeleteThe headboard for the bed is impressive! It is strange how just getting the essentials done took hard work yet people in days gone by seemed to live a slower pace than we do now.
ReplyDeleteGreat post!! Boom, Bobbi and Gary.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting post Cynthia, the lovely quilt on the equally lovely wooden bed caught my eye too.
ReplyDeleteFascinating history shots for OWT ~ thanks, ^_^
ReplyDeleteartmusedog and carol (A Creative Harbor)
Life was hard back then, but oh the simplicity would have been wonderful. I'm sure all our ancestors had their share of hardships.
ReplyDeleteI would hate to fall down those stairs. I enjoyed this post.
ReplyDeleteReally interesting post and photos.
ReplyDeleteThey were brave souls to set out to a new land and how nice that these two buildings have been retained to give us a glimpse of their lives. A very pretty quilt.
ReplyDeleteWhat an unnecessarily enormous headboard on that bed! An interesting peek into yesteryear.
ReplyDeleteTack så mycket för din blogginlägg! Lovely shots.
ReplyDeleteFascinating, and despite of the fact that I'm dreaming of a simple life, I'm very grateful for my bathroom!
ReplyDeleteDays of old, very interesting :)
ReplyDeleteYes, it must have taken a lot of guts to travel half way around the world and start up in a strange country with a strange language all those years ago.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't mind a 7hour crossing to the US for $12 now!
By the way, you take some lovely, clear photos Cynthia
What a lovely museum, and your photographs are great. Very interesting - thank you.
ReplyDeleteSo nice the house is still there to visit. I didn't know Swedish people also made the travel overseas. When I think of all the Europeans that left, times must have been so very miserable here. And to leave everything behind and go to the unknown is very brave.
ReplyDeleteSo interesting! :) I enjoyed the visit.
ReplyDeleteMy grandparents 'camp' when I was very young, was an old schoolhouse in Clarion, PA.
That dual purpose bath is ingenious. If you use the bath but once a week it is great to convert it into a bench or table for the rest of the time. Not too bad heating the water for the bath, in the summer it did not need to be too hot and in the winter the stove was roaring so the water heated up more quickly and don't forget that there was a pecking order for the bath with father first and the youngest last and hot water added as needed in-between.
ReplyDeleteThanks Cynthia. Nothing easier, you just need to make their travel arrangements.
ReplyDeleteA very interesting post about the Swedish settlement
ReplyDeleteI love that these things are well kept.
ReplyDelete