Nearest city Nerstrand, Minnesota MPS Rice County MRA Opened 1862 Added to NRHP 6 April 1982 | Built 1862, 1894 NRHP Reference # 82003026 Area 7,689 m² | |
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Location 9999 Valley Grove Road (155th St E) Address 9999 55th St E, Nerstrand, MN 55053, USA Architectural style Greek Revival architecture Similar Trondhjem Norwegian Lutheran, Goldstein Museum of Design, Mall of America, Minnesota Zoo, St Olaf College | ||
Valley Grove refers to two religious buildings situated near the community of Nerstrand in rural Rice County, Minnesota. The Valley Grove church buildings are located south of Northfield, Minnesota near Big Woods State Park at 9999 155th St E, part of Valley Grove Road (Rice County Road 30).
The Lutheran congregation discontinued use of the location in 1973. The Greek Revival churches were listed on the National Register of Historic Places during 1982. Today, both buildings are maintained by the Valley Grove Preservation Society. Valley Grove is the site of an annual country social, weddings and concerts including its Christmas Eve celebration.
The churches were built on a grassy knoll by Norwegian immigrants who first came to eastern Rice County beginning around 1850-1860. The older stone building was built in 1862 and is currently undergoing renovation; the Valley Grove Preservation Society obtained a fifty-year lease on the building from the Valley Grove Grace Cemetery Association in 2007. In subsequent years, the church has received a new steeple roof, finials, exterior repairs and painting. This project has been financed in part with funds provided by the State of Minnesota through the Minnesota Historical Society from the Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.
The other newer church was built just a few steps away in 1894 and features white clapboard siding. The newer building has already been renovated and is utilized principally for local ceremonies and celebrations. In the adjacent cemetery, many of the headstones were worded in the Norwegian language. The graveyard contains the Veblen family plot, whose members lived at the nearby Thorstein Veblen Farmstead.
Bernt Julius Muus
In 1859, the Norwegian Lutheran pastor, Bernt Julius Muus baptized 52 children on the site. Muus was born in Snåsa, Trøndelag, Norway and completed his theological training in 1854 before emigrating in 1859. In 1875 he helped found St. Olaf College. Although his achievements were great, he was often brusque and uncompromising; as a result he was later expelled from the church for his stubborn nonconformity.