Family Homesteads

Family Homesteads. . , This aerial photograph shows three areas where farm fields have been cleared from the woods. The clearing furthest to the right has been identified as the homestead of the Christian Kvale family. The clearing furthest to the left, where you are now, may be the Swedberg family homestead. Although the cleared area between the Kvales and the Swedbergs contains the subtle remnants of a house foundation, we do now know who lived there., The Swedbergs , Somewhere near here stood the two-story frame house of the Swedberg family. The little we know about the Swedbergs comes from land ownership records, and from interviews with people who lived in the area in the 1920s and 1930s., Frances Bartlett, who grew up where the park's picnic area is today, recalls the Swedberg's [sic] large white house as being very nicely decorated, compared to other houses in the area. Hank Asmus, whose home was where the park's trail center is today, and Ken Kvale, whose family lived about ½-mile northeast of here, also recalled childhood visits to the Swedbergs. Both Hank and Ken agreed with Frances's recollection of the Swedberg house as the largest in the area, recalling also that they had a large garden near the lake. Hank remembered that they had nice apple trees and said his mother used to get apples from the Swedbergs., A large structure is visible in this 1939 photograph. This structure was located near where you are standing now. This may be the large house remembered as the Swedbergs. The lilac bushes near the early homestead house foundation could be remnants of the Swedberg's living area, or they could be from a small house that was here before the Swedbergs were., 1939 aerial photograph