The Minnesota Historical Society manages 26 sites in Minnesota. From restored prairie battlegrounds, homes of important historical figures, and well-regarded museums, the Historical Society is an important contributor to Minnesota’s cultural life. The hike at Charles A. Lindbergh State Park will take you to a spot on the Lindbergh farm where Charles landed his first plane. The Grand Portage National Monument is an entertaining and informative journey back into the history of the earliest trading economy of Minnesota. Costume clad docents will lead your through the reconstructed trading outpost and enlighten you on the earliest encounters between the Ojibwe, the French Canadian Voyageurs, and the English North West Trading Company. A short walk gets you to the High Falls on the Pigeon River, at the U.S.-Canada border. It’s the highest waterfall in Minnesota. The historic Split Rock Lighthouse was built in response to the disastrous shipwrecks of 1905. It served its purpose until 1969 until modern marine navigational technology made lighthouses obsolete. The oldest, and most iconic, Minnesota State Park is Itasca State Park–the headwaters of the Mississippi River. You can’t say you’ve been there if you haven’t walked across the river. Lake Shetek is the largest lake in southwestern Minnesota and the Lake Shetek State Park that borders its east side makes for ample recreation opportunities. I showed up in late… The Pipestone National Monument in southwestern Minnesota is the site of ancient quarries where Native Americans have dug out stone used for the carving of their ritual pipes. The Jeffers Petroglyphs stone carvings in southwestern Minnesota preserve insights into the lives of the earliest residents of Minnesota. A collection of historical sites in southwest Minnesota offers the story of the first white settlements in the area, and the events which led to the Dakota people being driven off their lands to reservations in the West. But not without a fight.Minnesota Historical Society Sites
Walking the Charles A. Lindbergh State Park
The Grand Portage National Monument
The High Falls at Grand Portage State Park
The Historic Split Rock Lighthouse
Itasca State Park, Headwaters of the Mississippi River
Hiking Lake Shetek State Park
The Pipestone National Monument
The Jeffers Petroglyphs Historical Site
The Trail of the 1862 Sioux Uprising in Minnesota
