And One More on the Way: Spring Valley, MN

Somehow Spring Valley was overlooked and didn’t get a page on the homesite list. Until we get that corrected, I wanted to do an And One More on the Way post about them.

Visit their website: http://www.springvalleymnmuseum.org

Spring Valley Church Museum

The major Laura site in Spring Valley is the Spring Valley Historical Society Museum in the former Methodist church. This was the church that the Wilders attended when they lived in Spring Valley. The Wilder display, which includes everything from ads for Royal’s store to a painting of his house in town and a letter from Laura herself, is only the beginning of this museum. They are very proud of the stained glass windows and the plethora of equipment from various churches in the area that have closed. Downstairs in the church is a display of a general store, historic cooking equipment and an original fire engine complete with leather buckets. There are also displays on various inventors and business people who lived in Spring Valley and various pieces of the equipment of everyday life.  Out buildings include a historic house and a building devoted to agricultural equipment. They feature an impressive display of Victorian furniture, historic clothing and toys, plus a display on a pair of famous twins who lived in town and even a Fisher Price barn (which features a Spring Valley Feed poster on the inside – check in yours). The agriculture building features a recreated one-room school and even has a plane built from a kit by a local farmer.

Next on the must see list is the Wilder Barn on Tracy Road. The Wilder farmhouse was torn down long ago and none of the outbuildings, except the barn, have been dated to the Wilder’s tenancy. Please only photograph the barn from the road. The owners do not appreciate Wilder tourists. They have said they will eventually tear it down, but so far it is still standing. Nearby there is also a wonderful A&W restaurant that still has

Wilder Barn in Spring Valley

classic A&W food, not the gas station version.

A map provided by the historical society will take you around town and out to the cemetery. The cemetery has a number of more distant Wilder relatives, plus Royal’s. Unfortunately a tree branch casts an almost constant shadow over Royal’s grave. I have stopped at different times of year and many different times of the morning and afternoon and it is ALWAYS in shadow.

The Spring Valley Public Library is always a great place to stop, especially if the museum is closed when you get to town. Really it’s worth a stop anyway. Not only do they have nice public bathrooms, they also have a wonderful tree inside that they decorate differently according to the season. It’s worth a stop by itself.

Outside of town is Historic Forrestville. http://www.mnhs.org/places/sites/hf

This state park encompasses a living history site. At one time this general store was the only one in the area. When the railroad bypassed the area, it continued to operate basically as a company store. When the owner decided it was no longer worth it, he locked the door and closed for good with merchandise still on the shelves. It was re-opened as a museum set in 1899 using most of the original merchandise. It is a small site, but the staff was VERY good during my visit.

Sarah and Spring Valley Throw

I also want to include a special note of thanks. I bought raffle tickets when I went through last year (I always buy raffles at Laura sites to support them) and I won a Spring Valley afghan. I want to thank them for the terrific prize.

Sarah S. Uthoff blogs at TrundleBed Tales; look for her on Twitter and YouTube.