July 3, 2018

Beatrice, Nebraska to Rochester Minnesota

So the Homestead National Monument of America, part of the national parks service, is a place dedicated to the study and interpretation of pioneers and homesteaders primarily in the 1800s in the U.S. This was a fascinating visit filled with lots of stories and artifacts and raised a lot of interesting questions.  This monument was set up by Congress in 1936, where they bought this land that was the first of thousands of homesteads that were settled in the U.S.   

People were drawn by the promise of “free land”-up to 160 acres.  The catch was you had to clear the land, farm the land and, build a home live there for at least 5 years.  Some of these were very successful and are still in the families who settled them.  Some were grand failures and people lost everything. The very last of these homesteads was settled in Alaska in the 1980’s.  There was a display as we approached the Visitor's Center that depicted the percentage of a state that was homesteaded.  We especially looked at Ohio and Minnesota where our families had farms.  

One of the aspects of this migration was the fact that many of the homesteaders were immigrants, drawn from their homes overseas by the promise of a new life with new land that they could claim like any other individual or family.  The United States was actively soliciting immigrants to come to claim this land.  What a change from the mood of much of the country now.

They had many photos of the homesteaders.  While we found these quite interesting, we were appreciative of the Park Service's recognition that this land was the land that Native Americans had lived on for thousands of years before it was taken from them.  They had a concept that land was owned by the community not by individuals, which the settlers could not understand.  The settlers saw the land as available to them.

You could also explore your family’s history to see if you came from people who were homesteaders. We couldn’t find our families’ farms listed, but were encouraged to do more research. 

We truly enjoyed this rather obscure place to visit, but then had to get on the road because Patti's mom would be waiting for us in Minnesota. The drive was a few hours filled with small towns watching the crops, dodging the big rig trucks, and heading through Nebraska Iowa and finally into Minnesota.

Patti's mom was eagerly waiting for are arrival with a fresh baked mint cakes. We will get a chance to settle in for a few nights and spend time with her and see Patti's brother's family and catch a little friend time, too. There's never enough time to see everything and everyone when you get a chance to go "home" but it sure feels good to be there.