Sibley County Historical Society and Museum

Sibley County Historical Museum is located off Minnesota Highway 19 on the west end of the town of Henderson. The building is a beautiful restored red brick with cream-colored trim and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
It is also the home of the Sibley County Historical Society, which invited me to do a Farm Heritage Program at the museum.

Unless the roads are icy, I always enjoy a drive down the curvy road that descends the wooded hillside and leads to a bridge over the Minnesota River and then into Henderson. Yesterday was a perfect day for the trek. We arrived at 6:00 PM to set up for my program, which was scheduled to begin at 7:00 PM.

 Above, member Judy Loewe introduces me to the group, and below, 

I begin my Farm Heritage Program, which includes my book, A Farm Country Picnic.

I spoke for about an hour to an audience that identified with all things related to the farm. Even members who were from non-farm backgrounds seemed to relate to farm stories. After all, who from the city doesn't remember visiting relatives on the farm?

The degree of audience engagement was displayed by the number of questions and the number of people who had stories to share after my presentation. They told dog stories, horse stories, accident stories, and a few Halloween stories. I think we all had a good time with it.

After my show, we were treated to a short video about a huge combine pulled by horses and mules in Reardan, Washington, in the early 1900s. The wheat was bagged by men on a platform who sewed the bags shut before sliding them onto a wagon. 

Nancy and I were both glad to see Harriet Traxler attending the show. Harriet is an author of several books about rural Sibley County, including Barns of Sibley County, which I highly recommend. 

Thanks to Judy Loewe for inviting me to do my Farm Heritage Program, and thanks to all the audience members for such a lively response.

I especially thank those who gave donations to us and purchased my books, which shows that they  recognize the importance of farm stories that can be passed on to future generations in an effort to preserve our Farm Heritage in an accurate yet entertaining way.

Photographs by Nancy A. Fredrickson