The Scandinavian Riviera, or Hovland, Minnesota

By Philip J. Anderson

Largely developed by Norwegians, Swedes, and Swedish-speaking Finns who spread in a short time across eight distinct settlements, the isolated community of Hovland, Minnesota, quickly established a reputation for its natural beauty and the lively activity and hospitality of its people. Excerpted and adapted from the book Norwegians and Swedes in the United States: Friends and Neighbors edited by Philip J. Anderson and Dag Blanck.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Press
• Release date: Nov 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9780873518826

Philip J. Anderson

Philip J. Anderson is professor of church history at North Park University in Chicago.

Book preview

THE SCANDINAVIAN RIVIERA, OR HOVLAND, MINNESOTA

Philip J. Anderson

An MHS Express e-short, excerpted and adapted from Norwegians and Swedes in the United States, edited by Philip J. Anderson and Dag Blanck

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© 2012 by the Minnesota Historical Society. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, write to the Minnesota Historical Society Press, 345 Kellogg Blvd. W., St. Paul, MN 55102-1906.

This e-short is excerpted and adapted from Philip J. Anderson and Dag Blanck, editors, Norwegians and Swedes in the United States: Friends and Neighbors (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2012).

www.mhspress.org

The Minnesota Historical Society Press is a member of the Association of American University Presses.

Manufactured in the United States of America

International Standard Book Number

ISBN: 978-0-87351-882-6 (e-book)

Table of Contents

Cover Page

The Scandinavian Riviera, or Hovland, Minnesota

Settlement Patterns

Community Building

A Scandinavian Landskap in Minnesota

The Scandinavian Riviera, or Hovland, Minnesota

Philip J. Anderson

The North Shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota from Duluth northeast to the Canadian border is one of the most beautiful landscapes in the United States. Its stretch of U.S. Highway 61, with the spectacular rocky shore of the lake’s mostly landless horizon on one side and the boreal forest wilderness on the other, is a perennial top-ten national scenic route. One still winds through historic communities—quite visible despite some modern development—delighting the eye and inviting the imagination. As with so many areas throughout the state, the nation, and the world, there are ancient as well as more recent stories to tell of the settlement patterns and community building of its inhabitants. The focus here is on the small community of Hovland; those who came from Norway, Sweden, and Finland to help establish a home in a peaceful harbor on Lake Superior; and what might be learned from their experiences about the significance of place and home in and through time.

The Scandinavian notion of landskap refers to a lived territory that combines a group’s sense of place (e.g., home, town, county, state, nation, folk) with its physical features (e.g., landscape, scenery, climate, flora, fauna). The Scandinavian immigrants who arrived in Hovland in northeastern Minnesota at the end of the nineteenth century may not have conceived of their lives in this way, but they possessed an innate sense of landskap, which in time created a community identity that was conscious of the Big Lake and the North Shore (where Hovland would soon be