Historical 4th of July

Erin signed the crew up for an exploration of the Sibley House for the 4th of July. We have seen the James J. Hillhouse, Fort Snelling, the Alexander Ramsey House, Mill City Museum, Split Rock Lighthouse, the Minnehaha Depot and Gibbs Farm. Today was our day to visit one of the final historic sites in the area. When Emma was little, she loved seeing inside the historic houses. She begged us to go back to Colorado so she could go through the historic town. Usually you have to pay a fee to do a tour at this historical house in Mendota, Mn but on the 4th they offered a free tour which would complete our list of locations to visit. The Sibley house was built in 1835. It was the office of Henry Sibley, the state’s first governor, and is known as the oldest private residence in Minnesota.

At various times it sheltered Catholic nuns, schoolchildren, and art students. Some fun facts we learned were that Sibley's wife was the one who wanted the indoor staircase otherwise she would have had to go outside to get up to the bedroom each night, Sibley loved his dog but his wife was not a fan and tried to kennel him and there were two slaves in the Sibley house (one being born in Minnesota) even though it was illegal in Minnesota to have a slave. They often had slaves at Fort Snelling because they had visiting army officers from the south. Even though slavery was illegal, it was socially acceptable and people often looked the other way if an officer brought a slave with him. We also discovered that the largest hanging of Native Americans occurred in Minnsota and was tied to Sibley. Originally there were over 300 Native Americans scheduled to be hung but after sending the list to Abe Lincoln only 38 were hung at the end of the Dakota War. We also learned that Fort Snelling was a internment camp for Native American women, children and elderly during the war. Many died of disease and malnutrition at the camp.