Sketches from the Twin Cities: Still water

Stillwater mural

Birthplace of Minnesota

By Geoffrey Dean

[Editor’s Note: We appreciate your patience while we overcame the thorny technical glitch that on Saturday prevented us from showing you the photos accompanying these sketches.]

On the St. Croix River bordering Minnesota and Wisconsin, Stillwater, MN is a charming town with an old-time feel within easy driving range of the Twin Cities. As we discovered through the many historical markers along MN 95 between Stillwater and Scandia, this area is important as the cradle of Minnesota’s statehood and the home of its earliest European settlers (ca. 1838-1859).


Tamarack House historical marker

Stillwater’s lift bridge

    Arriving in Stillwater at around 8:30am on Sunday, Oct. 15, we drove down to the waterfront, noted the 1931 lift bridge over the St. Croix, and passed the Isaac Staples Sawmill before continuing north toward Marine, on the St. Croix. A town of just under 700 inhabitants, Marine was the site of the region’s earliest lumber mill, founded in the late 1830s. The mill thrived until a series of setbacks – fires and floods starting in 1885 – finally forced its closure in 1895. I was too busy reading the signs aloud to our baby to take photos of some foundation stones overlooking the river, all that remains of the mill.

Isaac Staples Sawmill

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

With its dovetailed corners and vaulted ceiling, an “Early Settler’s Cabin” attracted us to the other side of Marine’s main street. The two-room dwelling was later used as a boat-building studio by one Tom Burris, inspiring his nephew to refer to it as Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Next door(ish) is the home of one of the U.S.’s three extant hand pumps for fighting fires. This one was first used in an actual fire back in 1887. In the town square is displayed the St. Louis-made bell that was brought from Marine, IL, the town from whence the Marine, MN settlers came.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin (corner detail)

Hand-operated fire pump

Marine Bell

Cemetery

Before continuing north in search of more fall colors – because that was the original motivation for our outing – we drove into the hilly riverside residential area and west into the higher reaches of Marine, dominated by Christ Lutheran Church (then in mid-service) and a picturesque cemetery, and were grateful for the train horn that was our only warning of the approaching Scenic Railroad train carrying other fall color seekers south toward Stillwater. We rode a similar train between Duluth and Two Harbors a few weekends ago, when we chuckled at the website’s disclaimer on the actual amount of fall color that may or may not be seen, because it was not to be seen!

Scenic Train

Fiery flash of foliage

As we drove about seven miles farther north on 95 to check out Scandia, original home of the Minnesotan Swedes, I paused to photograph the occasional fiery flash of a tree displaying the yearly orange- or yellowness of its leaves. But the colors that stood out just as much were the more muted varieties of green, brown, and gray resulting from a mix of tree types and stages of leaflessness within the many forested areas along the way. When I remarked on this, my wife suggested I take off my shades.

Parsonage house

Scandia gave us a big “Välkommen,” and the Lion’s Club outdoor cookout at Meister’s Bar & Grill was already well-populated with also-colorful bikers when we drove by. We followed the signs to the Gammelgården Museum, and while the main building wasn’t open, the arrangement of the smaller structures on the grounds, including Minnesota’s earliest parsonage house, proved especially conducive to idyllic iPhone photography. And I even got in a bank of trees that clearly document what time of year this is – no muted shading here.

Idyllic view

Idyllic view with windmill

Swedish horse

    No Scandia photo shoot would be complete without one of an oversized painted horse statue in the Dala style.

It was now approaching noon, time to head back to Stillwater and actually stop there. In the hours since we had first passed through, the local Harvest Festival, of which we had zero prior knowledge, had gotten into full swing. Excited by this unexpected chance to mingle with humanity and to use the port-a-potty, we parked strategically and made our way to the line of riverfront vendors selling fall-themed wares from open tents near the river.

Pumpkin without steamboat

    We examined the first of the giant pumpkins that were being carted to the water’s edge for size and weight comparison before being hoisted by a tall crane and dropped from a considerable height – the local form of pumpkin smashing. We missed the actual judging and smashing. I forget why we passed over the steamboat boat ride, but we did see the paddle battle, except that it featured golf balls and pipes, but no paddles, so maybe it was something else.

Steamboat without pumpkin

Pumpkin with steamboat

Lumberman’s Exchange building with date

Two blocks west of the river to the historic Main Street, where, on the corner with Myrtle St., the convention was held that decided Minnesota’s statehood (or some other equally important decision in Minnesota history), we joined the throng and walked the main drag admiring various storefronts. We ventured into some antiques and book cooperatives, reaching the Isaac Staples Sawmill before about facing and exploring the other side of Main Street.
    Our final stop was Gammy and Gumpy’s, a wonderful toy store that gave the little one a chance to run free before the drive back to the Twin Cities.

Gammy and Gumpy’s Bob the Bear

Copyright © 2017 by Geoffrey Dean