About the Event
ut on your man pants and head to the Northwoods for three days of learning about God’s providences from seafaring to rail-roading, to World War II and building America. We are headed to Duluth, MN on the shore of Lake Superior this summer to peer into an eclectic collection of inspiring accounts of nationbuilders, mountain men, and WWII aces. We will pay a visit to Tom’s Logging Camp and Old Northwest Trading Post, where we are invited to “spend a few hours in the past,” which is our specialty! You will board the mammoth ore-ship William Ervin—now a floating museum, and take a train along the beautiful lakeshore. Additional stops include The Lake Superior Railroad Museum; Glensheen Mansion, home of devout Christian and iron-mining tycoon Chester Congdon; and the WWII “Ace of Aces” Dick Bong Museum.
Tour Highlights
Glensheen Mansion
Perched on a hill overlooking Lake Superior, the Glensheen Mansion is the most visited home-site in the state, and is a magnificent example of architecture, creative craftsmanship and family life in America. Constructed between 1905 and 1907 by Chester and Clara Congdon, the iron-mining tycoon spared no expense in accommodating his wife and children with beautiful gardens, vistas, woodwork, oriental rugs, artwork and books in 39 rooms covering 27,000 square feet of living space. As devout Christians from believing families the Congdons began their marriage poor, took advantage of providential opportunities, and discovered a thing or two about taking dominion of the earth—literally. We will tour the mansion and walk the beautiful gardens and grounds of Glensheen, a worthy treasure off the normal beaten paths of tourism in America. Later in the century, 1977, the mansion became the scene of a fatal break-in leading to one of the most sensational trials in Minnesota history.
William A Irvin Floating Museum
Duluth became the major port for transshipping iron-ore and its pelletized form called taconite, across the Great Lakes to the legendary iron and steel mills of America. Some of the ore ships created their own legends on the Lakes, plying the waters for fifty years. The loss of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald the largest and grandest of the ore-ship fleet, generated worldwide attention and a hugely popular folk-song from Gordon Lightfoot. We will visit one of those famous ships which is now a floating museum—The William A. Irvin.
Lake Superior Railroad Museum
Railroads were the key to the commercial success of the entire tri-state region, with Duluth as the hub of transport. The Lake Superior Railroad Museum, located in the multi-storied St. Louis County Train Depot, contains an overwhelming collection of the railroad engines and equipment that built Minnesota and America. We will explore every corner of the huge museum and take a long Train Excursion including dinner, along the lakeshore, a beautiful vista of Lake Superior on one side and the city it helped create on the other.
Richard I. Bong Memorial Museum
Only ten minutes away, across the St. Louis River—one of the more than three hundred rivers that empty into Lake Superior—is the small city of Superior, Wisconsin, home of the Richard I. Bong Memorial Museum. Medal of Honor recipient Dick Bong shot down more enemy aircraft than any other American fighter pilot in the Second Word War, making him “The Ace of Aces.” The Wisconsin farm-boy recorded forty “kills” over the Pacific Ocean and the islands so ferociously fought over for four years. The museum includes a restored P-38 Lightning like the one flown by Major Bong, as well as many displays and artifacts which tell the story of the air-war and much more.
Tom’s Logging Camp
As the Northwest Territories became states, American immigrants were attracted to the heavily wooded rural environment of what became Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. Logging became big business throughout the region to satisfy the demands for home-building, paper, maple syrup and countless other products fueling the growth of the nation. We will pay a visit to Tom’s Logging Camp and Old Northwest Trading Post, sixteen miles north of Duluth near the Knife River, where we are invited to “spend a few hours in the past,” which is our specialty! The old logging camp contains a Horse Barn, Blacksmith Shop, Horseshoeing Stall, Bunkhouse, Cook Shanty, and Finnish Sauna, not to mention llamas, pygmy goats, and rainbow trout! The Trading Post has “everything you need and more.”
Tour Includes
- Admission to all venues
- All guide and docent fees
- Electronic headset receiver for ease of hearing guides
- Biblical/providential interpretation from historian Bill Potter
- Rich fellowship with other brothers and sisters in Christ
- Landmark Events’ signature service throughout the tour
Ticket Prices
Adult (16+):$269
Youth (5-15):$199
Add’l Family (unlimited):$149
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