Minnesota has a remarkable array of house museums, each with its own unique history and architectural significance. Minnesota Open House by Krista Finstad Hanson features nearly two hundred of these grand mansions, humble homes, log cabins, frontier forts, and pioneer villages that are open to the public.
Krista Finstad Hanson, the author of Minnesota Open House, will be presenting a book talk Saturday, April 28 at 2 pm in Glensheen's Winter Garden. The event is free and open to the public.
Minnesota Open House will be available for purchase and signing by Krista Finstad Hanson after the presentation.
Minnesota Open House naturally features Duluth’s majestic Glensheen Mansion, featuring thirty-nine ornate rooms and expansive landscaped grounds making Glensheen the perfect backdrop for a historic home book talk. Other homes showcased in the book are Minneapolis’s stunning Purcell-Cutts House, a showplace of the finely crafted woodwork of Prairie School design and Stevens County’s Trantow Log Cabin, built in the German style with dovetailed log corners.
The book is organized by region and features easy-to-follow maps. This handy guide to historically significant and often breathtaking sites is the perfect road-trip companion. Entries detail each site’s cultural and political import and photographs illustrate key features, from leaded-glass windows to widow’s walks.
Author Bio: Krista Finstad Hanson is a writer and historian. She is the author of two travel guides to museums in historic houses: Minnesota Open House (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2007) and Wisconsin’s Historic Houses and Living History Museums, (Prairie Oak Press, 2000). She has written freelance, nonfiction articles and essays specializing in architectural history, travel, and homes since 1992 for such publications as American Bungalow, Old House Interiors, Style 1900, Minnesota Bride, Midwest Home, Wisconsin West, Ramsey County History and many others.
Learn more about Glensheen, the historic Congdon estate.