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Sleeping Bear Dunes National LakeshoreOle Olsen Farm House
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Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
Ole Olsen Farm

The Ole Olsen Farm is located at the end of Kelderhouse Road down a long driveway.  Take a drive down to the Ole Olsen Farmstead and walk around the buildings and think about what life would be like living and working here.

 
Ole Olsen Barn
Kerry Kelly 2006
Ole Olsen Farm

The original owner of 80 acres of this parcel was Andrew Tuffner, who sold it to Thomas Kelderhouse on 19 September 1865. Kelderhouse sold it to Ole Olsen on 24 January 1877. Mr. Olsen then sold the property to Carsten Burfiend in 1879, and bought it back two years later.

The land was settled by Olsen, who emigrated from Kristiansand, Norway, and landed on North Manitou Island, where he met his wife, Magdalena Burfiend. Although the boundaries of this 120 acre farm have remained constant, ownership changed many times: for most of the time, however, it has been owned by the Olsen family. After Ole Olsen built the farm, his son Charles bought it in 1891 and farmed there until 1915 when he married and built a farm on M-22. He later sold this farm to Albert and Ida (Dago) Prause. In 1954, Prause sold the farm to Howard Olsen, a grandson of Ole and a nephew of Charles. Howard Olsen's widow, Bertha, lived in the house until her death.

The main crops were wheat and potatoes.

A short hike of about 1/3 mile east from the buildings will take you behind Narada Lake, where herons, geese, and loons are often seen.

 
Ole Olsen Barn Foundation
Kerry Kelly 2006
Ole Olsen Barn Foundation

Note the fieldstones used in the foundation of the barn.  This is typical of the construction in this area.

 
North Bar Lake  

Did You Know?
You can enjoy the warm water of a small inland lake and walk a few steps across the pristine sand dunes to Lake Michigan and experience the refreshing cool waves of the big lake at North Bar Lake in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
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Last Updated: August 21, 2006 at 19:36 EST