schroeder area historical society · schroeder area historical society 2016 cross river quilters...

Schroeder Area Historical Society

December 2016 Volume 35 Issue 3

Newsletter

Good memories run deep at Shining Rocks. Everyone remembers Grandpa Smith's huge fireplace fires--so big they sucked so much oxy-gen out to the room that even the children slowed to a drowse. Our grown children re-

member their happy feelings when they saw bright lights in Rock 1 that signaled that Grand-pa and Grandma were waiting for them. They remember wait-ing for their cousins to arrive and the raucous games of Mo-nopoly, Scrabble, Hand and Foot, and Yahtze they played to-gether. They reminisce about roasting wieners and burning marshmallows for S'mores, and tossing left-over pancakes to the seagulls.

Our children have introduced the grand kids to the joy of leaping off rocks and swimming in the currents of the Temperance Riv-

er. They bribe their kids to jump into frigid Lake Superior and strategize with them to reroute the

creek on the beach. Every 4th of July we all make homemade ice cream, and the rule still stands that anyone who wants to eat must turn the crank. After dark, there is still chat around the camp fire, roasted wieners or brats and sticky S'mores. The shouting and loud laughter of keen competition still accompany games of Scrabble, Risk, Hand and Foot, Yahtze and Rummikub.

Shining Rocks is the name of our family's retreat on Lake Superior. Ever since our parents Beryl and Cliff Smith bought Shining Rocks in 1970, it has drawn aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, and now our children and grandchildren to it, simply to be to-gether, and to celebrate birth-days, graduations, anniver-saries, weddings and the 4th of July. It is "home" for our chil-dren who had many addresses as they grew up. Today my hus-band and I own Shining Rocks together with my brother and his wife. Our children and grandchildren come from Seat-tle, San Antonio, and various cities in Minnesota. Frank and Alice Warren built a beautiful log cabin with a screened porch and huge river rock fireplace in 1932. They named their lakeshore retreat Shining Rocks. Today there are four cabins at Shining Rocks: Rock 1, the original log cabin; Rock 2, called the Merry-Go-Round because early on it was lifted off its foundation and turned 180 degrees to face the lake; Rock 3, a big garage in its first life and today a large recreation hall; and Rock 4, the newest cabin. The Warren's niece and several grand nieces and nephews continue to re-turn to Shining Rocks to reminisce about the good times they had visiting Uncle Frank and Aunt Alice in the 1930s, 40s and 50s.

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Beryl and Cliff Smith bought Shin-ing Rocks in 1970.

Shining Rocks, our Lake Superior Retreat

Barbara Livdahl

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Shining Rocks continues to lure friends and rela-tives with its beauty, its memories and its hospital-ity. The night is still so black you can't see your hand in front of your face. The stars are still bigger and brighter than we see in the city; the orange moon and its wide path across the lake still spell romance. The opportunity to relax and talk at length with those we love is priceless. Homemade wild blueberry pie or fresh rhubarb pie still tempt the taste buds. Challenging places to hike and fun to make are still in abundance. Yes, Shining Rocks continues to enrich our lives and encourage new memories.

The Schroeder Area Historical Society has a com-plete file of carbon copies of the almost-daily let-ters Frank Warren wrote to Hazel Pecore telling

her husband Jo Pecore how to build the log cabin. These letters record daily happenings in Schroed-er, including the Warren's friendships with the Smiths, Alneses, Gundersons, and Stickneys, the near drowning of Jo Pecore, the progress on high-way 61, the sale of the Smith Hotel, and the plant-ing of hundreds of trees. The letters are in the SAHS archives.

This article appeared in the Minneapolis Star Trib-une June 17, 2016. I wrote it last spring before our family sold Shining Rocks, the Livdahl/Smith family retreat. Shining Rocks, like so many other North Shore family cabins has been, the source of countless good times and a place where warm, deep memories are created.


Lake Superior is in the front yard. The beach comes and goes with the storms. It is deep and wide when the wind and waves come from the northeast, but only bare rocks when the wind and waves come from the south or west. On calm days we can search for agates and launch the canoe; on stormy days, we dodge the waves and try again to capture a picture of the highest wave.

A little walking bridge and a path behind Rock 3 lead to a cedar swamp and a grove of tall red pines growing on a knoll behind the cabins. Signs of deer are everywhere there and in the garden. Deer regularly nip off the flowers in the flower boxes and flower pots. Eagles and crows swoop overhead and occasionally there are signs of otters, bears and coyotes. Our Texas grand-sons surprised everyone by catching a 26 inch, 5 pound northern from the shore at the mouth of nearby Father Baraga's Cross.

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Lights on in Rock 1 signaled Grandma and Grandpa were waiting for their grandchildren

Lake Superior is the front yard of Shining Rocks.

Mrs. Frank Warren in front of the log cabin in about 1934 after trees were planted.

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Fall NEWS

New SAHS 2017 President


The October 6 Wine and Beer Tasting Event at Cross River Heritage Center brought together community members Bill Blank (left) and Greg Fangel (right) pic-tured above. Greg Fangel was recently elected president of Schroeder Area Histor-ical Society. Greg has over twenty years of non-profit board experience serving as president, vice-president, treasurer, and founder of various other organizations. Greg has a degree in business manage-ment and retired in early 2015 as Director of Support Operations for an Eagan Com-pany in the Twin Cities. Greg and his wife Liz Wagner live in Tofte and spend their free time enjoying the great outdoors.

What’s Happening at SAHS

2016 Fall Art Show

Charlotte Durie, painter and print maker feels at home on the North Shore. She lives in Wales but has U. S. ancestry and ties to the North Shore. This year her exhibition included prints named for Bob Dylan’s songs from Blood on the Tracks. The titles proved to be prescient. One of the CRHC guests saw the print named Idiot Wind and had to buy it in honor of Bob Dylan’s recent Nobel Prize for Literature and her recent retire-ment. On September 24 Charlotte delivered a wonderful talk at CRHC about her work.

Photographer Tim Ostroot spends as much time as he can taking in the great beauty of the North Shore of Lake Superior area. Here he is pictured with his pho-tographic equipment on October 8 when he spent some time at Cross River Heritage Center sharing the joy of his work.

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MUSEUM ASSESSMENT ACHIEVEMENT

SAHS completed the first level of bronze certificates in the Steps Standards and Excellence Program for History Organiza-tions. Steps is a self-study program for history organizations that encourages awareness and achievement of national standards. It is a program of the American Association for State and Local History.


Volunteers are the foundation of the work at Cross River Heritage Center. Call 218-663-7706 to volunteer.

Fall Events 2016 at Cross River Heritage Center

13th Lundie Cabin and Vacation Home Tour

The Wine and Beer Tasting drew a crowd of 50 on October 6. SAHS volunteers Darrel Fisher and Leona Scherer enjoyed the evening.

SAHS volunteer Carol Markwell collected tickets for the Wine and Beer Tasting.

July 8, 2017 Stay tuned for a more formal announcement

Trish Hunter’s watercolor class on September 10 was a fun day for par-ticipants.

Mike Prom of Voyageurs Brewing Company of Grand Marais was ready to pour and provide beer for the October 6 Wine and Beer Tast-ing.

Chuck Corliss of North Shore Winery did the honors of pour-ing wine at the Wine and Beer Tasting on October 6. Bound-ary Waters Red was a big hit.

After numerous attempts at safe cracking by some high functioning adults, it took Linda Lamb to crack the code of the Gunderson safe on CRHC’s main floor. The many talents of Linda Lamb will be missed as she leaves the SAHS presiden-cy and board in 2016. Best wishes and many thanks.

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Memberships

Memberships are important to support our community and the work of the Schroeder Area Historical Socie-ty. Memberships run from January 1 through December 31. Thank you for supporting the work of SAHS.

The 2017 Schroeder Area Historical Society continues with Boom to Ghost Town—Taconite Harbor. If you can loan an interesting artifact or photograph with history or share a story please call Cross River Heritage Center at 663– 7706.

Mrs. Claus enjoys meeting with the children. She is as-suring Lil and Nola Motschenbacher that Santa will sure-ly bring them the puppy they want.

Susan, Arwen and Sean come to CRHC this fall while visiting Dad and Grandpa, Jim Tveekrem. Jim is SAHS treasurer.

The folks at Voyageur Brewing from Grand Ma-rais are ready serve Bill Christ. Bill will begin-ning a new assignment as secretary of Schroed-er Area Historical Society in 2017.

Barbara and Roger Livdahl have moved away from the area and their beloved Shining Rocks. They are superb volunteers. Barb created ex-hibits, authored a Schroeder history book and was secretary of SAHS. Roger was the #1 paint-er, ladder jockey and CRHC handyman. Thank you for your great work and best wishes.

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2016 Cross River Quilters

President’s Message-November 28, 2016

2016 was an exciting and busy year for the Schroeder Area Historical Society. Building on the work of one of our earliest exhibits created by Orlene Fisher and others, Barbara Livdahl spearheaded de-velopment of our 2016 exhibit Boom Town to Ghost Town- Taconite Harbor. The exhibit tied in to the scheduled 2016 power plant closure at Taconite Harbor. The exhibit was well attended and our programming included a reunion of Taconite Harbor employees and families. Taconite Harbor com-pany doctor, Dr. Roger MacDonald was the featured speaker at the Society’s annual meeting in June where he shared his memories. Most recently Duluth’s Channel 21 Fox news featured the ex-hibit in a piece about the Taconite industry on the North Shore.

We rely on volunteers. I’d like to thank three of our wonderful volunteers Barbara and Roger Livdahl and Dory Spence. They have moved from the area. We will certainly miss their presence, leadership and many contributions to the Society and the Cross River Heritage Center. From gardening to plan-ning and helping with events, hanging art exhibits, cataloging archives, cleaning, exhibit research and more, we have many opportunities for volunteers. The work is fun, interesting and training will be provided. Please consider joining our team of volunteers who are so very important to fulfill our mission and vision.

We appreciate your support… have a Merry Christmas and we hope to see you at the Heritage Center! Linda Lamb

Carol Tveekrem draws the lucky winner assisted by Suzan From. The 2016 Kaleidoscope Quilt Raffle winner is Veronica Nelson of Wolverton, Minneso-ta, 20 miles south of Moorhead. Thanks to Paul Deaner for getting the quilt to Veronica on a recent trip to Fargo.

The Cross River Quilters Kaleidoscope quilt project for 2016 was raffled at the Cross River Heritage Center on November 19 at 2:00 pm. Coralyn Koschinska worked through the winter of 2016 creating the lion’s share of the quilt. Finishing touches were added by the Cross River Quilters. In this picture above Polly Erickson, Or-lene Fisher, Coralyn Koschinska and Phyllis Miron are getting close to the project finish line.

And the Winner is...

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May 26 Opening Day at Cross River Heritage Center

June Annual Meeting

July 8 Lundie Vacation Home Tour

October 21 Closing Day

November 18 Holidays in Schroeder 10:00—2:00 pm

Please note additional events for 2017 were not finalized at the time of this newsletter publication.

Memberships

Schedule of 2017 Events at Cross River Heritage Center

Master Card ____ Visa ____

Card # ________________________________

Ex Date: _________ Security Code________

Please make checks payable to : SAHS

Name:___________________________________

Address: _________________________________

City: _____________________________________

State: ___________ Zip Code: _______________

E-mail: ___________________________________

Telephone : _______________________________

Your membership is important to us.

Please mail your membership to:

Schroeder Area Historical Society (SAHS)

P.O. Box 337

Schroeder, Minnesota 55613.

Annual Memberships: run from January 1 to December 31

_____ Renewing Member_____ New or Gift Membership

______ Annual Membership $25 _________Donation

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SAHS Board of Directors

President: :Linda Lamb Vice-President:: Deonn Cicak Treasurer: Jim Tveekrem Secretary: Barb Livdahl Linda Lamb (Newsletter Editor) Bill Christ Greg Fangel Orlene Fisher Judy Gregg Kate Griffith Peter Juhl Steve Lukas Alta McQuatters Spencer Motschenbacher Steve Schug

SAHS Vision and Mission Statement

Vision: “Draw from the past, bring to life in the present, preserve for the future.”

Mission: The mission of the Schroeder Area Historical Society, located in the Cross River Heritage Center, is to research, document, and preserve the unique history of the Schroeder area and the North Shore of Lake

Superior.

SAHS goals are to:

Collect local artifacts and oral histories and preserve them appropriately.

Develop and present exhibits that will inform and engage visitors.

Provide insight and reference for future generations.

Build community

Partner with other local organizations.

Ensure financial solvency.

Maintain a strong corps of active volunteers.

CRHC Director: Suzan From

See SAHS website at crossriverheritage.org

Non-Profit Org. U.S. POSTAGE

PAID Schroeder, MN

Permit No. 1

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