Peterson Development Match Fund

Historic Andrew Peterson Farmstead Development Fund

QUADRUPLE your donation! 

Multiply your donation by FOUR for a limited time!

Your donation will be quadrupled during GiveMN in 2023!  That means for every donation we receive it will be multiplied by FOUR!  If you are looking for a great way to make your donation count, now is the time to make that donation.  But this a limited offer.  Only the first $2000 donated will receive this fabulous match. 

How will my donation be used?

That is a good question. All funds will be designated to the Development Fund for the Peterson Farm.  The Farmstead development fund includes but is not limited to the rehabilitation of the south barn, development of the education center, construction of a parking lot, and moving the driveway from Hwy 5 to Parley Lake Road.  We have accomplished so much, but there is still so much to do.  The CCHS Board of Directors has reached the five-year goal listed in our long-range strategic plan and currently updating it for use in the next five and ten years.

Your donation will help us continue our vision of developing a place where everyone is welcome and educational programs are taught AND experienced.

FARM HISTORY

  “We passed through Skagerrak finally and saw a little of Farsund’s point in Norway—it was the last time we saw our old Scandinavia.”  Andrew Peterson    May 21, 1850

    While the farm was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 for Peterson’s horticulture work with apples, it is his 48-year diary that catapulted Peterson into the public eye.  Almost 40 years after Peterson's death, his diary would be found by the Swedish author, Wilhelm Moberg. Moberg used the diaries as a primary source for his highly acclaimed Emigrant book series.  Commenting on his primary resources, Moberg, in his book "The Unknown Swedes" noted that, “most pioneers lack the education to recount their life history.”  “There was one exception”, a Swede by the name of Andrew Peterson.  Minnesota Historical Society historian Carlton C. Qualey stated the diaries are, “unique in the collections of the Minnesota Historical Society and probably one of the few of its kind anywhere.”  

In 2013, the Carver County Historical Society inherited the Andrew Peterson Farmstead. Five original buildings from Peterson’s era still stand, the north barn, farmhouse, granary, smokehouse, and south barn. The north barn and smokehouse rehabilitation have been completed. Rehabilitation of the farmhouse will be completed in early 2024. The granary is scheduled to be rehabilitated in 2024. Per our long-range plan, the next focus is the rehabilitation of the south barn.  That will complete the rehabilitation of the original Peterson farm buildings. The middle barn has been stabilized and can be used for events and programming, but more work is needed to develop the lower level into an interpretive center.