The Story of Normarke Farm |
Normarke Farm sits on 87 acres of wooded hills and open pasture lands. Your hostess' dream of a bed and breakfast was already ten years in the making when she purchased the land in 1992. It was her culmination of a two year search for just the right property. Construction started in the fall of 2001 and was completed in December of 2002. The farmlands have a rich history starting back during the gold rush days when General George Armstrong Custer is reported to have camped in the meadow between the present log home and the lake. In the late 1800's, the property also played host to a train station and a school. When these forest lands came off public lands, the order was signed by Theodore Roosevelt. The first owners, the Reausaws, deeded the small lake on their property to Lawence County and later to the state of South Dakota so long as it was up kept for public use. To this day it is a popular fishing lake for the locals. It is stocked with pan sized trout at least three times a year. The Van Pattens have on display a number of relics from the 1800's and early 1900's that have been found on Normarke Farm including a number of oxen shoes and an unfired army issue rifle shell. Your hostess, Diane, was born to a Swedish-American father and a Norwegian-American mother. All of Diane's grandparents were immigrants from Norway and Sweden during the second wave of immigration in the 1890's through the early 1900's. Her Grandmother, Petra Fatland Knutsen from Halsnoy Island, Norway, honored and kept her heritage and inspired a pride of that heritage in her family. Through Normarke Farm, Diane hopes to, not only preserve her Scandinavian heritage, but also lead others to an awareness of and appreciation for the hospitality, hard work, ingenuity and joy of life of the Scandinavian people. |
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