Have you ever been out exploring in the Land of 10,000 Lakes and driven past something that didn't immediately register, but as soon as your brain catches up with your eyes, you do a double-take? (Or I sometimes do a U-turn and double back to see if what I thought saw was, indeed, what I thought it was.) That's precisely what happened to me the first time I noticed Little Log House Pioneer Village, near Hastings, Minnesota.At first, there's not much to see—just a rusting piece of farm equipment parked in a corner of a field alon...
Have you ever been out exploring in the Land of 10,000 Lakes and driven past something that didn't immediately register, but as soon as your brain catches up with your eyes, you do a double-take? (Or I sometimes do a U-turn and double back to see if what I thought saw was, indeed, what I thought it was.) That's precisely what happened to me the first time I noticed Little Log House Pioneer Village, near Hastings, Minnesota.
At first, there's not much to see—just a rusting piece of farm equipment parked in a corner of a field along U.S. Route 61 south of Hastings. A faded sign reads "Little Log House Pioneer Village." I've lived in the Twin Cities for decades and driven that stretch of highway countless times, but it wasn't until this spring that I noticed that faded sign and did my double take. Pioneer village? What pioneer village?! So, I did a U-turn and doubled back to where the sign was. I saw no sign of a village, pioneer or otherwise.
I started driving eastward on 220th Street and came to a bridge. Not on the road, but rather beside it. Stretching over a pond. Over the next quarter of a mile, an eclectic collection of buildings and structures from several time periods unfolded along the north side of the road. I turned left on Michael Avenue and found what I was looking for: the entrance to the village.
At this point, I learned that Little Log House Pioneer Village is only open to the public for three days each July, when it hosts its annual Antique Power Show. Otherwise, the village is only available for special events. I reached out to the owners to inquire about a tour but did not hear back from them. So, I took some photos from the road, and armed with a laptop, I set out to learn what I could about this anachronistic anomaly in the eastern Minnesota countryside.
Little Log House Pioneer Village got its name when the owners discovered the logs from a mid-19th-century structure on their property in the 1980s. They rebuilt and restored the log home on a parcel of rural property they owned, and the concept was born. Although the idea was initially founded on the notion of a "pioneer" village, the vision quickly became a bit less focused. The owners began collecting and restoring all manner of historic structures, regardless of the period from which they came. Today, Little Log House Pioneer Village is an eclectic mix of dozens of structures that represent more than a century of Minnesota history.
That bridge I saw? It used to span the Yellow Bank River at Odessa, Minnesota. It was removed in 1995 and made its way here, where it was used to build a replica of the old Hastings Spiral Bridge that spanned the Mississippi from 1895 to 1951.
Several historic buildings from the late 19th and early 20th century dot the landscape at the village, as does a collection of commercial signs and more modern structures. The old Porky's, for example, a drive in burger joint and University Avenue institution in St. Paul, closed in 2011. Rather than being demolished, the iconic yellow-checkered building made its way to the village.
Similar stories abound at Little Log House Pioneer Village, whose owners' dedication to preservation is admirable. When the congregation of St. Boniface Church needed a larger building, their 1892 chapel was slated for demolition. Instead, the materials were moved, and the church was rebuilt at two-thirds scale in the village, where it hosts weddings almost weekly throughout the year.
Little Log House Pioneer Village is a fascinating roadside sight in eastern Minnesota. I'm looking forward to visiting in July to get a closer look at this historic collection of structures. For more information about this quirky spot, check out Little Log House Pioneer Village on the web.
What are some roadside spots in Minnesota that have made you do a double-take? We'd love to hear all about them!