HeyJaredBrent Peterson History Columnist
- Indexed articles, last 90 days
- 7
- Latest publication
- Oct 1, 2026
- Outlet visibility, for hometownsource.com
- Top 500K sites
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 9, 2026
Latest articles
Bone Lake: A school, turned community (opens the original)
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A community can be organized around many things. There are cities and their neighborhoods, but communities can also be a group of people who have the same interests. Forest Lake was organized with people living around the lake, just like those who live around Bone Lake. Bone Lake, also known as Bonny or Bony Lake, is an old community with many families living near the lake for many generations. Like most rural communities of the day, the center of activities took place around the schoolhouse. Th
Blacksmith beginnings (opens the original)
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The author Henry W. Longfellow penned a poem titled, âThe Village Blacksmith.â First published in 1840, the poem describes a local blacksmith and his daily life. The first verse says, âUnder a spreading chestnut tree, the village smith stands; The smith, a mighty man is he, with a large and sinewy hands; and the muscles of his brawny arms are strong as iron bands.â A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, ben
Mary Davis legacy remains in the Sunshine Lodge (opens the original)
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Every summer, children from all around head out to camp. Camp could be a scout camp, a language camp, a church camp or whatever, but it was a camp that allowed children to leave home for a week or so, make new friends, and enjoy themselves after a long school year. In Forest Lake, there was a camp for more than 50 years where children from across the Twin Cities and the Midwest would come and spend some time just being children. This camp was called the Mary Davis Sunshine Lodge. The camp was a
Mary Davis legacy remains in the Sunshine Lodge (opens the original)
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Every summer, children from all around head out to camp. Camp could be a scout camp, a language camp, a church camp or whatever, but it was a camp that allowed children to leave home for a week or so, make new friends, and enjoy themselves after a long school year. In Forest Lake, there was a camp for more than 50 years where children from across the Twin Cities and the Midwest would come and spend some time just being children. This camp was called the Mary Davis Sunshine Lodge. The camp was a
The Lost Community of Garen (opens the original)
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Washington County has over 30 communities in it. Many are well-known and others not so much. There were more at one time and these âghost communitiesâ have faded in time and have been but lost to the pages of our history. One such community, Garen, was just south of present day Forest Lake. Garen, a farming community, was located near 190th and Highway 61. According to Elsie Vogel, Forest Lake historian and author of âReflections of Forest Lake 1893-1993,â Garen came into existence when
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