Twilight Tours in May and September

Thursday, May 27, 2010 at Norskedalen's Skumsrud Heritage Farm (has been cancelled for 2010)

Friday, September 10, 2010 at Norskedalen Nature and Heritage Center

Guided walks from 5:30-8:30 PM

Reservations are required for this event.  Please call Norskedalen at (608) 452-3424 for reservations.

Regular admission rates apply.  $2 for members.

Led by guides with lantern light, visitors will step back in time and meet live historical characters of the area's past.

Norskedalen's history includes many colorful and memorable people who helped to shape the Coon Valley area of La Crosse and Vernon counties.  Settled primarily by Norwegian immigrants, Norskedalen's existence is owed to people who had the foresight to preserve original log buildings, immigrant artifacts, oral histories, protect valuable natural resources in the valley, and create a place of education and understanding of the past and the future.  Norskedalen's mission is to not only preserve the nature and cultural heritage of the region, but also to interpret it, and this is the purpose of the "Twilight Tour."

As guides lead visitors around the grounds and homestead of Norskedalen, they will encounter:

  • Hugh H. Bennett - A conservationist from 1933 who began the successful cooperation effort with area farmers of caring for the coulee region land and streams.
  • Dr. Alf and Carroll Gundersen - Founding members of Gundersen-Lutheran Hospital.  They donated their farm for Norskedalen to preserve, protect, and interpret.
  • A Civilian Conservation Corps working from the 1920's camp set up in Coon Valley.
  • Oscar and Lorraine Ophus - Land owners who farmed this land, which includes the site of the original Ophus farmstead.
  • A Native American from the distant past.
  • Helga Gundersen, who was instrumental in preserving the cultural heritage she brought with her from Norway.
  • Lars Sletvolden - In 1855, at the present site of Norskedalen, he was moving corn shocks in a raging, flooding storm and was swept away, never to be seen again.
  • A surveyor from the 1800's, surveying the landscape features, Indian mounds, creeks, and streams.
  • The Engum Family, including 13 children, none of whom ever married, who lived in the "Engum House" of Norskedalen's restored homestead.
  • Many other colorful characters!
Each Twilight Tour will feature different historical characters because of the different histories of the Skumsrud Heritage Farm and Norskedalen's Bekkum homestead.

Norskedalen's Twilight Tours create fascinating and memorable evenings.  By leading visitors into the past, especially at that magical hour of twilight, Norskedalen will bring the history of Norskedalen and the Coon Valley area to life.