Glensheen Mansion, Duluth, Minnesota - 10 September 2020
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| Perched on the shores of Lake Superior, Glensheen Mansion is a 39-room residence,29,000 square feet of living space, sitting on a 12-acre estate featuring gardens, bridges and a murder mystery. Chester and Clara Congdon were an influential family who opened up the Northland's iron ore mining in the area and built this family home from 1905 to 1908 using remarkable quality craftsmanship and imports from around the world. Features of the turn-of-the-century mansion included hot, running water, electricity, fire retardant tiles contained in 16 inch thick ceilings, irrigated grounds from nearby Tischer Creek and a 60,000-gallon water reservoir, gravity operated with enough pressure to send the backyard fountain water 75 feet in the air. |
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| One of the most amazing things about this historic home is the entire collection of family heirlooms and everyday items is completely intact. Donated to the University of Minnesota in 1979 and maintained in its historic details. From books on the shelves and letters in the desks to dishes in the kitchen cabinets and even the top hat in the closet, each item was purchased and used by members of the family. |
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| Portraits of Clara and Chester Congdon. Each room was uniquely furnished based on the who was going to occupy it. The girls' rooms were painted pastel colors, bright and airy while the boys' rooms were earth tones, mostly wood frame furniture with sporting and outdoor themes. |
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| Details included unique designs for exterior windows and interior doors. |
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| Master Bedroom was, of course, the largest room in the house. Mr. Congdon also had a small separate sleeping area for those occasions when he arrived home late at night. He didn't want to disturb his wife after she had gone to bed. |
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| Master Bedroom and Bath with sitz bath. Each bathroom had a tub with an installed button to call the maid when the bather was finished and wanted a warmed towel. |
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| Dark Room and Photography equipment. One of the boys' had a deep interest in photography so this dark room was designed for his special needs. |
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| Walter's room facing the lake at the back of the house. He was the eldest of the seven children born to Chester and Clara and became an executive of the Duluth Mining Company. |
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| Bedroom for married guests. There was also a suite of rooms for unmarried guests which had single beds. |
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| Trunk room on the second floor. The family did a lot of traveling and required multiple pieces of luggage for transporting their estensive wardrobes on their voyages. |
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| Kitchen housed the bell system to notify the staff when they are needed and by whom. The oval item is a cookie cutter that does not waste any dough. The dinosaur is a contest for kids visiting the mansion. A dozen were hidden around the mansion. |
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| Butler's serving area with breakfast sun room in the background. Completely surrounded by windows and facing the lake, the stained glass top windows and decorations were nature inspired. A hidden view of dining room integrated into the door to my left (lower right pictures) so the butler could see when to serve the next course without interrupting the dinner guests. |
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| Left, from breakfast sun room looking back to butler's room. Imported Italian marble tiles and water fountain. Right, from sun room looking out over the garden and lake. |
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| Dining room. Butler's door and window view is to Carol's right. Below the table at each end was a call button connected to the butler's pantry just in case a special request was needed. |
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| Dining room chandelier with close up detail brasswork. I certainly would not want to clean tarnish off this. |
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| Detail of railing between first and second floors. |
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| Entertainment room has several areas for music, billiards, dancing and viewing home movies. |
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| The back of the mansion overlooks the gardens and Lake Superior. |
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| Views from the balcony. |
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| Beyond the gardens a path leads to the lakeside boathouse and dock. Clara's nephew, Alfred Bannister, was interested in scuba diving. This diving bell was discovered on the lake's bottom during repair work on the dock which had been damaged during a winter storm. |
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| A look back from the lake shore to the raised gardens, balcony and back of the house. |
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| Boathouse with staircase leading to the roof and from the jetty into the lake. Boats can no longer dock along the jetty as the extension was removed after several damaging storms. |
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| One of several bridges crossing the Tischer Creek along the paths wandering throughout the estate. |
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| Returning to the terrace/balcony (bridge on right) which was also used for entertaining during cooler months. |
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| North of the main house are the flower, herb and vegetable gardens. The missing piece to these gardens is the massive 3,000 foot Greenhouse. Used to store exotic plants and to start most of the seeds purchased by the staff gardener, it is estimated that 6,000 seedlings were grown every year. |
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| The extensive plantings of rhubarb is from 100 year old stock. The Gardener's House is now used as office space. The bottom photo is the stables. We have never seen anything like this. Clay tiles, scored to assist in traction, covered the floors. Drains for water run-off so horses could be bathed even during winter. The largest space (left) was allowed for horses to be saddled or harnessed under cover from the elements. What about the murder mystery? On Jun 27, 1977, the last Congdon, Elizabeth, heiress to a vast mining fortune was killed along with her night nurse. Someone "broke in" and bludgeoned the nurse on the grand staircase with a candlestick, then went upstairs and smothered the 83-year old heiress in her bed with a satin pillow. Investigators focused on one of two adopted daughters of Elizabeth, Marjorie, and her husband, Roger Caldwell. The couple, desperate for money, was in line to inherit $8 million when her mother died. Roger was charged, convicted and given two life sentences. Marjorie was charged the next day with conspiring to kill her mother. She was acquitted and evidence in her trial led to the Minnesota Supreme Court throwing out Roger's conviction. Instead of a second trial, Roger confessed but as part of his deal, was freed after serving five years. On tours, the guides still do not discuss these events but will answer questions about this tragic episode in Duluth history. |
Split Rock Lighthouse, north of Two Harbors, Minnesota - 11 September 2020
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| Social distancing in place, a volunteer gives a short talk of the history and technology of this Minnesota landmark anchored on the rocky cliff of Lake Superior. A November gale which wrecked nearly 30 ships in 1905 prompted the construction of this rugged landmark. One third of those ships were owned, but uninsured, by U.S. Steel. Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller were competitors in the Northland's ore mining business. Carnegie became part owner in the business owned by Chester Congdon. These heavy hitters had the influence necessary to finally getting Congress to appropriate $75,000 for a lighthouse and fog horn. |
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| At 1000 watts of ship-stopping power, Split-Rock Lighthouse guided iron ore freighters safely around "the most dangerous piece of water in the world". The original, 1500 pound Fresnel lens, rotated on 250 pounds of mercury, was illuminated by incandescent oil-vapor lamp, flashing once per side at intervals of 10 seconds. The resulting beam was officially visible for 22 miles. The foghorn was manually sounded by lighthouse keepers at 20-second intervals whenever visibility dropped below five miles. |
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| Keepers storage building contains antique and modern components to maintain the lighthouse and grounds. The anchor was salvaged from one of the many wrecked vessels off the cliff. |
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| The classic photograph of Split Rock has to be accessed by way of the trail from the lighthouse through the State Park and down to the shore of Lake Superior. Before the establishment of the State Park with its access road, all visitors, replacement parts and provisions arrived by boat. Wagons and hand carts were loaded and hauled, by lighthouse keepers up the 130 feet cliff height. Eventually, a winch was cemented into the rock cliff on the opposite side. |
At Home fixing the freezer, Two Harbors, MN - 12 Sep 2020
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| Cooling coil/condenser was freezing over due to a blockage of ice in the drain. First problem was defrosting the ice below the coil. Second problem was getting even my little fingers to get behind the unit to install the longer replacement piece which fits inside the drain hose and, hopefully, keeps ice from building. |
SS William A. Irvin, Duluth Harbor, Minnesota - 13 Sep 2020
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| A Sunday tour of a lake freighter that sailed on the Great Lakes as part of the U.S. Steel fleet. She was the flagship of the company fleet until 1975. Built in Lorain, Ohio and steamed for the Pittsburgh Steamship Division for her entire career. She is 610 feet long with a 60 foot beam, 32 foot depth and carrying capacity of 13,600 tons. |
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| William A Irvin is powered by geared steam-turbine engines, rather than the gigantic, two-story tall reciprocating engines used in older ore-carrying ships of the period. |
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| The Irvin was also the first to have all areas of the ship accessible from the interior of the ship which allowed the boat's crew to stay inside during rough weather. |
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| As the company flagship, she was one of few lakers built with a three-tier bow cabin, as opposed to the standard two. Used for the duty of carrying executive passengers, the extra deck houses a suite of four guest cabins, a lounge and dining room, all trimmed in oak paneling and walnut veneer with brass handrails. |
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| All cargo was loaded and unloaded through the 18 hatches on deck. All hatches were covered with large one-piece steel hatch covers, each of which weighed 5.5 tons. After the covers were lifted off and placed aside using the hatch crane, the cargo could be dumped into the three holds. The captain's desk and uniform. |
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| Below those fancy executive guest quarters is the bridge. |
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| Today's Great Lakes ore ships are between 1,000 and 1013 feet long, 105 feet wide and 56 feet depth. They can carry up to 78,850 tons. |
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| A pedestrian bridge opens for a tour boat to access the docks. |
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| A lift bridge raises the entire roadway to allow boats to enter the Duluth harbor. |
Gooseberry Falls State Park, Two Harbors, Minnesota - 13 Sep 2020
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| Gooseberry Falls is known for its spectacular waterfalls, river gorge, Lake Superior shoreline, Civilian Conservation Corps log and stone structures, and north woods wildlife. |
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| Betty's Pies for a good dinner and better dessert. |
Iona's Beach, MN - 14 Sep 2020
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| Iona's Beach curves in a salmon-colored crescent of over 300 yards along Superior's North Shore. The Gitchi Gami State Trail and Twin Points Water Access hide this gem requiring a walk to the lakeshore and then a scramble down the 30 foot cliff of pink rhyolite and bedrock. As described online: "Even when no one is here, this is an active place. Some days Superior's waves play the beach, rhythmically lifting and then dropping the flattened stones so that they fall together with a high-pitched, ringing chime that listeners have likened to singing. Meanwhile, the exposed basalt headland booms and shudders as the lake surges into crevices in the rock, steadily hollowing it out from the inside." |
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| Iona's Beach access, lakeshore and full length of beach, free of human development. |
DowntownTwo Harbors, Minnesota - 15 Sep 2020
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| Two Harbors Navigation Project includes two breakwaters to calm the raging waters off the lake for ore laker ships that would enter this harbor for loading from the Iron Ore Docks. The docks are steel, seven stories tall and over 1300 feet long. They allow ships to pull alongside 112 chutes where the iron ore is then dropped into the hulls of the boats. |
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| Two Harbors Lighthouse, now housing a Bed & Breakfast, built in 1892 and is the oldest operating lighthouse in Minnesota in Agate Bay. Made of red brick with the head keeper house attached, the tower is almost 50 feet tall and is 78 feet above the surface of the lake. The light station also included a fog signal. The beacon is visible an average of 17 miles. The Lighthouse B&B opened in 1999. There are three guest rooms, a living room and dining room in the Keeper's house. The Skiff House has one room with private bath. |
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| Edna G Tugboat worked the Great Lakes and is now preserved as a museum ship. She moved ships and barges loaded with iron ore from the loading docks (behind her), through the harbor and spent her entire career at Two Harbors except during World War I when she served on the eastern seaboard. She was the last of the coal-fired, steam engine tug and was involved in several shipwreck rescues during her career. |
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| Looking across Agate Bay from the Iron Ore Docks toward Two Harbors Lighthouse. Original 3M birthplace museum in Downtown Two Harbors. Five local businessmen invested in a business signed papers here making Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing a corporation. The mining venture failed because the mineral holdings had no commercial value. But the sandpaper business started by 3M arrived at the perfect time to provided auto manufacturers with products to help finish car bodies. If you owned one share of the original stock certificates today it would be valued at approximately 1.7 million dollars. |
