• Wednesday-What'sUP June 24 - 09:43 pm

Donna MacIntosh recently discovered the Hanka Homestead Finnish Museum, near Arnheim. Donna was so excited about the guided tour she took of this 1920's self-sufficient homestead farm, that she wanted to share the experience with us all through the photos she took.

Donna starts with the info about tours and hours, then gives us a wider view of the actual farmstead itself. We step inside for a look at an old carpet loom, which I'm betting made much sturdier carpets than what you can buy in the store today. Next we get a peek at the kitchen sink and pitcher pump that carried the water from the ground into the home for dishwashing, cooking, cleaning and daily use. Then we visit the corner where Herman Hanka (the disabled father of the family) made and repaired shoes for his family and neighbors. The last photo, I found quite interesting, as Donna explained that this was where they kept the butter and cream cool. They would put it in metal containers, which they then placed in that hole in the floor, where there would be a creek running under it... and that's what kept it cool.

Donna has a whole slideshow of photos from her visit, so if you'd like to see more, click here: Hanka Homestead Slideshow.

Donna said her visit was well worth the trip out there and the suggested donation of $3.00 per person. You get to see how a family made their living off the land back then. These were some tough people to be able to do that, especially when you think about what it must have been like in the winters back then. If you ever needed a description of the word SISU, it's the strength of homesteaders back in those earlier days. Imagine what they'd think of our way of life now with all the modern conveniences!

The folks during that era would think of our modern conviences today as: "Darn! Why didn't we think of that?"

We were there 10+ years ago. Nice way to spend an afternoon.

This is definitely something to see...everyone should make that run! I've lived here most of my life, and never went to see the Homestead. I'm so glad I finally did. I know there's a large number of us locals that have not been in there, but we pass by all the time. Believe me....it is WORTH the stop!

Check it out!!!

We had a pump like that in the kitchen when I was young. No hole in the floor, but there was an ice box. Anybody out there toast marshmellows over a kerosene lamp?

More on the pump. Up and down on the handle got the water running, but not until you primed it. There was always a can of water handy next to the pump for that purpose. You'd pour it into the top of the pump to wet the leather seal creating suction. You caught holy h*** if you didn't refill the "primer" water can after using it. Moving the handle right or left prior to pumping the handle would give you either hot or cold. Now, if you believe that part I have some low lying land on the Princess Point road for sale.

I, too, visited the Hanka Homestead a few years ago and highly recommend this to those who have not. The entire Homestead was a wonderful "step back in time. Rowdy, growing up in Pewabic, we, too, had a pump for water that had to be "primed"...moving ours to the left gave us hot water. LOL

Donna, your photos and slideshow are superb! Thank you.

Those pants in the fifth photo look like Dockers. Was this family related to Levi?

This is a spot I have never been to but always wanted to go. good selection of pictures.

I love the last photo of the lighthouse in the Day In History June 24. Can anyone identify it?

Donna, Very interesting slideshow, keep up the good work. Nice photos.

Rowdy and Helen...they could always have kept the handle to the left when using the dishwasher!!!!

Ohmygosh, Donna, what a fantastic slideshow!

I'm having flashbacks to my earliest memories from the mid to late 1940's of my maternal grandparents' dairy farm in 'Ruces 'Rossing (est. circa 1925). Of course many more modern improvements had been made by the time I showed up on the scene, but they were still using horses and many similar farming implements. The first (1940 Ford) tractor came a bit later.

Many of the Hanka Homestead's farm tools and equipment sure look familiar. Likewise the magnificent log building construction (reminds me of the ol' sauna building on da farm!) Ditto for some bits of farmhouse furniture, the woodstove, and even the sad irons¹ shown on top of the stove (they had been retired to the attic by then, but I did see 'em).

¹ You'd think anyone using such a contraption would have reason to be 'sad', but the sad in sad iron (or sadiron) is actually an old word for solid, and in some contexts this name suggests something bigger and heavier than a flat iron.

Antiques Roadshow, where are you?

I've been to Hanka Homestead a couple of times. It is a great historic site to visit. Very nicely preserved and the tour is interesting. Highly recommended.

Hey, this looks like the camp at L.B.!

Alex...Oh my gosh! Today i have been hoping to have continued laughter. Your post helped out in that for me!!

Nice slideshow, Donna and good write up, Mary. Like many of you,
for years I have been intending to stop at the Hanka Homestead.
Finally, last summer, my Cousin John and I paid a visit there. We
spoke with a well informed volunteer and had a tour of the place.
Truth be known, there were items around the homestead that
resembled the ones used by my relatives not all that many years
ago. Those old Finlanders really stuck with the "waste not, want
not" philosophy.

To Peg (Almostup) That is the Marquette Lighthouse. Take from the beach north of the light at sunrise.