News from Heritage Telemark (Press headings to read more).

Rolf Haugen in Skien was honored with the Paul Harris Fellow Award in the Skien Rotary Club meeting on Wednesday June 16. Rolf Haugen is not a member of Rotary, and it is a special honor for a non-club member to receive this award.

On Wednesday June 16 we had a meeting discussing opportunities in connection with our trip in Sept/Oct to Minneapolis, Minot and Bismarck. Present in the meeting at Klosterøya in Skien were representatives from Innovation Norway, Grenland Development, Made in Grenland, Skien community,Telemark Heritage and Oliven Reiser. Mr. Yngve Berntsen from Sandefjord came to the meeting to give information about the business and trade market in Minneapolis.

2009 has been a good year for the Telemark Heritage web, with many visitors.(more).

We have received an article from our friend in Hadelandslaget, Dave Gunderson, about Olaf Olavsson Vinje, and the Legacy of his brother, Aasmund. Maybe this history is not too well known in Vinje, and in Telemark. You find the full history under Images and Articles on our web.

The Vinje Monument at St. Olaf Cemetery, 3 miles southeast of Dalton, MN. Olaf Olavssen Vinje, his wife Thea, and son Olaf are buried there. The cemetery is about one mile south of the former Vinje Farm. Photo: Dave Gunderson

The 3rd issue of the International Bulletin from Telemark County Council is now available on the net.

In Norway the tourist organizations mainly focus on New York, California and Florida. They seem to forget the Mid West and the heavy Norwegian-American population that people from Norway would like to visit. What was new to us until we met representatives from the tourist industry in Bismarck and Minot last fall is the tremendous growth that has been in states like North Dakota. Up 655 % since 1990 is impressive, and it is a strong evidence that their investments in tourism advertising and infrastructure are really paying off. (more)

Wahpeton is a modest town in the southern part of North Dakota. Not many people have heard about Wahpeton, at least not in Norway. But Wahpeton has an interesting history with reference to the dramatist Henrik Ibsen from Skien in Telemark. The history that we got from retired Dean Emeritus Vernon Edgar Hektner at North Dakota State College of Science in Wahpeton you can read below:(more):

The person reported to be "the largest landowner in North Dakota" with 20.000 acres, arrived in northern Dakota territory like most immigrants, without very much money. The first years his home was a hole dug into the bank of a river.(more).

In California the Daughters of Norway have a lodge called Anne Grimdalen Lodge. This lodge was named for a noted woman sculpter, who was born in 1899 in the Telemark county in Norway. Anne Grimdalen studied art in Oslo, and in 1931, her statue "Girl on a Horse" was bought by the Norwegian National Gallery. She later won a national competition, and three of her pieces were selected to decorate the newly built City Hall in Oslo. She created large pieces of sculpter based not only on historic themes, but also on nature and common people.(more).

A weekend in Telemark WI is for all fans of an active lifestyle.
Not far from the metropolitan communities of Minneapolis, Chicago, and Milwaukee, the classic resorts of northern Wisconsin offer visitors the ultimate in winter activities, whether you’re a family looking for a place to take the kids snowboarding or a young adult training for a competitive season of cross-country skiing. Go to the Telemark Resort in Cable, just off County Highway M.(more).