Sight Seeing

Spirit Lake, Iowa High 75 Low 57

Today was a nice sunny day and we decided to go see some more of the sights in the area.

Before I get started, I need to mention that Sunday there was a group of gospel singers in the RV Park, and we watch them practice for a little while.

 Cindy took a picture of how full the RV Park was for the weekend. Now there aren't very many people left. We also got a picture of one of the bird houses on a pole in front of the Park office. They must be used, as we saw birds flying into them.

Today we went  to Spencer to get some fabric for Cindy. We had failed to figure how much green she would need for her embroidered Santa quilt. We figured we had got 2 yard shy of enough when we were there last week, and didn't know if we would be able to get the same material anywhere else. While we were there, we found another fabric store, and Cindy found two partial bolts of good material for $3.00 per yard. We didn't think we would ever see 6 1/4 yards of name brand fabric for under $20.00, but that's what we paid. You can never have too much fabric.

We then went to see the Abbie Gardner Sharp Historic site. The Cabin has been reconstructed and furnished like it would have been in 1857. In front of the cabin and Information Center there is a monument that was erected in 1894. It tells about what is now know as the Spirit Lake Massacre.

On March 7, 1857 a small group of Dakota Indians came to the site by West Lake Okoboji,to find a pioneer settlement at what had been their land for many years. On March 8, 1857 the Indians got in a fight with the pioneers over some straw and in the next few days 42 settlers were massacred by the Indians.

 These two paintings were the work of Abbie Gardner Sharp.

Young Abbie Gardner and 3 other women were taken prisoner. One was subsequently thrown in the river and shot. Another was beaten to death at the Indian camp. Margaret Marble was ransomed on April 29. On May 30, Abbie Gardner was ransomed, almost 3 months after she was captured.

She was 13 year old at the time, and soon after here release she met and married Casville Sharp. She wrote a book about the massacre that was published in 1885. In 1889 she returned to her childhood home in Arnolds Park and purchased it and opened it as a museum and welcomed visitors for the next 30 years. She died on January 17, 1921.

Today Abbie's cabin and family cemetery are owned by the State Historical Society of Iowa.

While we were there they had a 15 minute DVD of the events leading up to the massacre and her capture and release. We both thought it was a fun place to visit.

This is Abbie from about 1890.

There is a large State owned Park adjoining the cabin and Information Center. We took a walk through the Park to the Lake. There are a lot of homes with there back yards next to the Park. We saw a whale weather vane, which we liked.

There were lots of squirrels running around in the park. There were two that seemed to be chasing one another through the grass and up and around the trees.

We leave here tomorrow for an RV Park in Minnesota for 2 days.

Thanks for visiting.