John went fishing and I went exploring. The Minnesota Historical Society has recreated the town of Forestville which was platted in 1855 and grew to 150 residents until the railroad moved away from Forestville toward Spring Valley. People stayed for awhile raising crops and cattle, brickworks and forestry but by 1910 the store closed and everyone had moved away.
Today there are a few building left that have been restored but mostly the sites that can be seen are just the foundations. There used to be two hotels, a general store, blacksmith shop, school, distillery, saw mill and grist mill. At the top of the hill overlooking the town site is the cemetery where 30 graves have been found but they only have the names for 20 of them.
The historic site is about a mile walk from our campsite and the cemetery is another mile from the town so I got a lot of exercise today as I walked to the town twice! The first time I wondered around and disturbed the site manager who was delighted to give me all the history of the place and then I got a private tour of the store and the store owners home. The store had the best selection and the most items I have ever seen in a late 1800’s store! On weekends they have costumed interpreters who cook, sew, tend the garden and sometimes even blacksmiths working.
John worked hard to catch one fish in the morning but was a frustrated fisherman this afternoon so I let him watch television tonight.
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