Ephraim Historical Foundation August Events!

After our busy July full of successful events -- the Summer Social, Children's Day, and the 2007 Annual Meeting being just a few of those -- we are now ready to gear up for an equally busy August! We have many interesting and new events planned that you won't want to miss!

Saturday, August 11
Free Museums Day and Church Tours
11:00 am - 4:00 pm: Museums Open
10:00 am - 5:00 pm: Church Tours

In conjunction with the Hardy Gallery's "Festival of the Arts" on Saturday, August 11, the Ephraim Historical Foundation is offering a Free Museums Day in which all five of the Ephraim Village Museums will be open to the public free of charge. In addition, staff and volunteers from the Foundation will also be giving free tours of both the Bethany Lutheran Church and the Ephraim Moravian Church that same day.

"The Hardy's annual Festival of the Arts event is wonderful -- it's very well-organized and well-attended every year. It brings many people to Ephraim and it seemed like the perfect springboard for the Foundation to inform residents and visitors alike about the many historic structures in Ephraim, especially the two churches," says Sally Jacobson, EHF Executive Director and Curator.

A special Free Museum Pass for August 11 can be obtained at any one of the museums or at the Ephraim Visitor's Center. Costumed docents will also be in downtown Ephraim at the Festival of the Arts handing out passes as well. The tours of Ephraim's historic churches will be from 10:00 am - 5:00 pm. "Many members of both the Bethany Lutheran Church and the Ephraim Moravian Church will be on hand to give these tours," Sally says. "People are always curious about the two steeples of Ephraim, and these short tours are a good way for people to get acquainted with their history."

Please let your family and friends know about Free Museum Day!

Tuesday, August 14
Volunteer Appreciation Event
10:00 am, Hands On Art Studio

The Foundation's annual Volunteer Recognition Event will be held this year at Hands On Art Studio -- we encourage all who couldn't come last year to join in the fun this year! Please RSVP to the Foundation office at (920) 854-9688 when you receive your invitation postcard -- we want to thank you for all the wonderful work you've done for us this season!

Wednesday, August 15
Ellen Farrell Baker Book Reading & Signing
7:00 pm, Anderson Barn History Center
Hosted by Passtimes Books

Former Door County resident Ellen Farrell Baker will be at the Anderson Barn History Center on Wednesday, August 15 at 7:00 pm to discuss her recently published novel, entitled "Keeping the House." Passtimes Books of Sister Bay, the host of the event, will also have copies of Baker's book available for purchase.

Some Foundation members may remember that Baker worked at the Ephraim Historical Foundation for three summers as well as a full year in 2000 - 2001. She explains that the first seeds of Keeping the House were actually planted while working at the Foundation. She began to write a novel about the story of a family called the Mickelsons who had lost a son in World War I. The novel she was working on at the time never did get published, but many of the characters she developed for that first novel did make their way into "Keeping the House."

"Keeping the House" is a novel rich in period atmosphere and 1950s detail - an unforgettable novel about small town life and big matters of the heart. When Dolly Magnuson moves to Pine Rapids, WI, in 1950, she discovers all too soon that making marriage work is harder than it looks in the pages of the Ladies Home Journal. Dolly tries to adapt to her new life - keeping the house, supporting her husband's career, fretting about dinner menus. She gives up her dream of flying an airplane, and instead tries to fit in at the stuffy Ladies' Aid quilting circle. Soon, her loneliness and restless imagination are seized by the vacant house on the hill.

As Dolly's own life and marriage become increasingly difficult, she begins to lose herself in the piecing together the shocking story of three generations of Mickelson men and women: Wilma Mickelson, who came to Pine Rapids as a new bride in 1896 and fell in love with a man who was not her husband; her oldest son, Jack, who fought as a Marine in the trenches of the First World War; and Jack's son, JJ, a troubled veteran of World War II, who returns home to discover Dolly in his grandparent's house.

Authors and critics alike are raving about Baker's first novel. Fannie Flagg, author of Can't Wait to Get to Heaven, says "Ellen Baker's first novel is a wonder! I couldn't have liked it more!" Buffalo News says "Do yourself a major favor at the bookstore this summer: pick up Ellen Baker's Keeping the House and start reading. Don't be surprised if you can't put it down."

For every book sold, Passtimes Books will donate 10% of the proceeds to the Ephraim Historical Foundation -- so please join us in welcoming Ellen back to Door County!

Friday, August 17
Eagle Harbor Chronicles
Bethany Lutheran Church -- The North Steeple
7:30 pm, Ephraim Village Hall

In celebration of Bethany Lutheran Church's 125th Anniversary, please join us for this special series of theatrical vignettes written by Ephraim Historical Foundation Executive Director/Curator Sally Jacobson. Four scenes from 1882 through 1957 follow the history and transformation of Bethany, from the initial establishment of the church through the first summer church service. Ephraim Historical Foundation volunteers and supporters will be portraying important people in the history of Bethany, such as Halvor Anderson, Peter Peterson, Kirsten Goodletson, Pearl Holand, and Emma Hanson. Admission to Eagle Harbor Chronicles is $5/person, and tickets are available at the Foundation office as well as the Ephraim Visitor's Center. For more information or to purchase tickets to Eagle Harbor Chronicles, please call the Foundation office at (920) 854-9688.

We hope you can join us for these great August programs, and we hope that everyone is having a great Ephraim summer!

For more information on any of our August events please call:

Ephraim Historical Foundation
PO Box 165
3060 Anderson Lane
(920) 854-9688
info@ephraim.org

From the Archives

These young ladies were two of the thousands who stayed at the summer camp in Peninsula State Park between the 1910's through the 1940's. Campers came from as far as the east and west coasts. This image was given to the EHF by one of the campers who visited from St. Louis, MO.

Connecting Ephraim's Past With The Present!

The Ephraim Historical Foundation is fully immersing ourselves in the world of technology -- we now have our own blog!

For those of you who aren't quite sure what a blog is, a blog is a website where entries are written in chronological order and displayed in reverse chronological order. They provide commentary or news on a particular subject such as food, politics, travel, or in our case, our little village of Ephraim. A typical blog combines text, images, links to other blogs, and other forms of media that are relevant to the topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is perhaps the most important part of many blogs.

In case you wonder about the popularity of blogs, the blog search engine Technorati was tracking more than 71 million of them as of May 2007. The use of blogs has become very mainstream as political candidates and news services began using them as tools for outreach and opinion forming.

The Ephraim Historical Foundation has many uses for a blog, both as a way to share some of Ephraim's history with interested parties as well as being a voice for some of the present happenings in the village (which, of course, will be history someday!). In the next few months, look for our blog to expand with Ephraim news, stories, photos, and other forms of media. Craving some news about who was the 43rd annual Fyr Bal Chieftain? Wondering about the new Bethany Lutheran Church exhibit at the Anderson Barn History Center? Have a hankering to see a perfect Ephraim sunset? We hope to have all that for you and much more.

If you have a comment to share about anything we've posted, we'll make it very easy for you to post that comment. Actually, it is the idea of sharing that prompted the creation of a blog in the first place -- it is the Foundation's hope that we won't be the only ones sharing stories and ancedotes about Ephraim!

As I'm writing this entry, it's a beautiful day in Ephraim. The Ephraim Village Museums are now open for the season, and we had a busy past weekend with Fyr Bal -- many people for the walking tours on both Friday and Saturday, and things are shaping up well for the week as well! The Bethany Lutheran Church 125th Anniversary Exhibit Reception was this past Friday, June 15th, and was very well attended by members of the Bethany Congregation and other visitors alike.

I encourage all of our members as well as Door County locals and vacationers to check out this blog frequently! We hope to have much more for you in the weeks to come.

Sincerely,

Melissa J. Ripp
Business & Marketing Director
Ephraim Historical Foundation