History on a Stick or Burning Off Some of Those Cheese Curds

Just caught this nugget in the MN State Fair insert included in Sunday's Star Tribune:

HISTORIC WALKING TOUR
This self-guided walk is a great way to explore the fairgrounds. Tour brochures available at State Fair information booths, the Foundation booth in front of the J. V. Bailey House or at walking tour signs located throughout the fairgrounds.

Could be an interesting way to see new parts of the Fairgrounds while justifying your consumption of the newest infarction on-a-stick, "Big Fat Bacon" (1/3 lb slice of bacon fried and carmelized with maple syrup, served on a stick with dipping sauces). For more State Fair food info, check out this site.

image: http://www.ohforfun.typepad.com

DIY St. Paul walking tours

While on the St. Paul Phototour website, I discovered that Joe Hoover has posted a bunch of neighborhood walking tour maps. They bring you into some pretty interesting parts of the city. Here's the sampling along with the links:

Dayton's Bluff Historic District:
Take a driving tour of the some of the neighborhood's most important sites of interest. -- PDF Map 370k

BridgeTrail:
Take a walking tour of St. Paul's historic and scenic Yoerg's Bluff (West Side) and Uppertown (West 7th) neighborhoods and the Mississippi River. -- PDF Map 488k

Phalen Creek / Burlington Northern Trail:
Take this printable PDF map with you and go hike in Swede Hollow and Phalen Creek -- PDF Map 54k

State Capitol Monuments Tour:
A walking tour of the monuments and memorials on the State Capitol Mall -- PDF Map 24k

"Slum it on Summit" Walking Tour:
Walk Summit Avenue and take-in some of the finest architecture in St. Paul -- PDF Map 120k

Labor History Tour:
The factories, and humble homes of the working class have a history to tell all of their own. -- PDF Map 156k

Free Summer Historic Walking Tours in Minneapolis

Want to know the history of Elliot Park? How about the a glimpse into early 20th Century Jewish life on the Northside of Minneapolis? Well, you can learn more about these and other Minneapolis neighborhoods and historic sites by participating in any of the numerous free walking tours hosted by the city of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission. The schedule is posted here.



image: from the City of Minneapolis, inside the Shubert Theater on the 2007 tour.

Doing the Bluff

I think that Dayton's Bluff is one of the most interesting neighborhoods in St. Paul. It's made up of a couple of different parts: the Historic District, north of I-94 and east of East 7th Street; Swede Hollow, west and north of East 7th, and Mounds Park on the South side of 94. The houses are amazing--lots of Victorians, some crazy mansions, and more modest homes. The area is super hilly and Mounds Park and Swede Hollow Park are great places to explore.


If you want to get out and explore this neighborhood off of the beaten path, the Dayton's Bluff Community Council has created several different walking and driving tours. You can access them online here or pick up brochures at their office at 798 East 7th Street. Before you go you can read up on some neighborhood history too.

Since the season of the shirtless Minnesotan is upon us (see previous blogpost), this is a great time to get to know a lesser-known part of the city!

images: Dayton's Bluff Community Council.

A little history with your walk

One of my missions in life is to get Minneapolis and St. Paul outfitted with top-notch neighborhood heritage trails. The DC Cultural Tourism office already has a great model that we could rip off. Heritage "trails" let you take a self-guided walking tour of a neighborhood where signs along the way alert you to areas of cultural and historic importance. These same signs also have a map of the route so that you don't even need a guidebook (although you could sell guidebooks for people to keep as a reference and/or souvenir).

There are lots of benefits to these kinds of trails. They bring people off of the beaten path to explore neighborhoods that they might not have visited. They get people walking. They educate. During the planning phase, they bring together neighbors who know the local history and who can help to tell the story of the neighborhood from an intensely local perspective. Once the trail is up, it's a nice source of community pride. And, they're kind of like an urban scavenger hunt for grown-ups who appreciate history.

Images: DC Cultural Tourism.