Dickson Store and the Danish Canadian Museum

August is the Sunday of Summer. A friend quoted this recently and I think it really sums up the feeling of August. I have been away from my blog for longer than I intended. I had a few days off and was spending time with my family. It was a good few days and now it's time to catch up on my blog reading list and get back to work. Probably in that order.

We visited this place waaaay back on June 23. It's another great place close to where we live! The town of Dickson, AB is about 40 min SW of home. The Dickson area has great recreational and camping amenities but our reason for this visit was to see 2 different museums. One is in town and the other is a minute down the road. No point only checking out one..might as well make it a two-fer!

We first went to the Danish Canadian Museum. This area is home to the oldest Danish settlement on the prairies and as such was chosen as the site for the museum. The main building is a former girls dormitory built in 1933, it now houses a cafe, gift shop and rooms containing many pioneer artifacts and archives.

If you though that was it....you were wrong! The museum sits on 7.5 acres and you'll want to explore it all! Follow the paths through the forest and through the manicured lawns and flower gardens. So much to see! We are even planning to go back for Viking Days this weekend coming up.

See the Tree People as you stroll through the Children's Garden of Imagination and be reminded of the many classic stories by Hans Christian Andersen.

Next we checked out Dagmar Church, a scaled down version built in the style and design of churches throughout Denmark. It seats 24 people and it is available to rent. Would be a neat place for a small wedding.

There are a couple other buildings that aren't specifically Danish in origin but are interesting local pioneer buildings, as most of you know...I love pioneer buildings!

Thomsen Pioneer Cabin, built in the 1930's.
Originally located near Dickson and made from local spruce trees.

Nielsen CPR House. This house was part of a 'Ready Made Farm', designed to entice
settlers to the prairies. It came with a house, barn, shed, well and pump house.

There are more exhibits that I didn't take photos of, including a replica Viking Ship and a replica Dolmen (ancient burial chamber). Check out more on their website, here!

After chatting with the friendly staff and buying a viking sword (made of non lethal foam) from the gift shop, we were on our way to the Dickson Store Museum. This is just what you might guess, an old general store with living quarters above the store. It's filled with vintage items and artifacts that you'd expect to find in a general store and a look into what it would have been like for the family who lived above and operated the store. You can also grab some candy or an ice cream. We got both.

Just west of the store is the former Dickson one room schoolhouse. (Another of my favourite things). The school was originally named Kings School in 1906, but that was an error made by the Ministry of Education, as it was intended to be Kingo after the Danish poet. It was changed to Dickson in 1922. A new school was built in 1938 and both were used for a time. Permanently closed in 1959. I believe this is the 1st school, the 2nd school was made into a residence.