Four Norwegian-style tapestries were recently exhibited at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Northfield.
The Minneapolis weaver Robbie LaFleur spoke to members of the congregation on April 28 about the weaving technique and the stories the tapestries tell about the history of the Norwegian immigrants who built the two iconic churches at Valley Grove overlooking Nerstrand State Park.
Margit Johnson, Valley Grove Preservation Society board member, provided a brief history of Valley Grove’s churches, starting with the stone church, built in 1862. When the congregation outgrew that building, a wooden church was built in 1894 facing the stone church.
The Partners for Sacred Places provided the grant to commission the four tapestries. One depicts the bur oak in the nearby oak savanna and prairie, surrounded by animals that the Norwegian immigrants knew in the 1860s.
Another tapestry features a woman with her chickens, honoring the ladies aid society whose egg money paid for the renovation of the stone church as the fellowship hall in the 1890s. Pastor Quamme, “the skiing pastor,” skied from Farmington to Nerstrand as Valley Grove’s first pastor.
The wooden church is woven in a traditional Norwegian design surrounded by a meadowlark and the rare dwarf trout lily.
The next opportunity for the public to see the tapestries will be at Valley Grove on Sunday, June 23 from 2-4 p.m. for a Celebration of Weddings at Valley Grove. The board invites anyone who was married at Valley Grove, who attended a wedding at Valley Grove, or who aspires to be wed at Valley Grove to come and share their stories over coffee and goodies.
The tapestries remain in the stone church in the summer through the annual Country Social in mid September. Then they become a traveling exhibit during the winter months when the stone church is closed. If you know of a place where the tapestries can be exhibited, contact the Valley Grove Preservation Society board at info@vallleygrovemn.org .
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