Last Sunday, I went to Belle Plaine after a member of the Belle Plaine Historical Society told me about their annual Flea Market. It was very hot but cheerful nonetheless — people were selling crafts, baked goods and antiques. I got a great tour of the Hooper-Bowler-Hillstrom House 
and learned a little history about pioneer life in Belle Plaine. The most noteworthy feature of this famous farm home is the double decker outhouse.
One room, of the house, not the outhouse, is dedicated to Judge Chatfield, Belle Plaine’s founder, who gave the town its moniker which means ‘beautiful prairie’ — and it is that — a borough nestled into a wide valley of the Minnesota river.
In spite of the heat, the house was surprisingly cool upstairs, and the double decker out house is only one of the many examples of pioneer ingenuity you can find in the house. It reminded me a bit of visiting the Veblen home over in Nerstrand where a master carpenter, Thomas Veblen, solved numerous problems with pioneer ingenuity.
Later that afternoon, I attended celebration for Jennings Feroe’s 90th birthday, Pastor Feroe is visitation pastor at St. John’s church in Northfield. Bly and Feroe family histories go back a ways in Minnesota Norwegian Lutheran annals, and two of my closest friends at St. Olaf, David and Paul Feroe, were great nephews of Jennings. Jennings has had a long and fruitful career in ministry and education finance and is a well respected member of the Northfield community.