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• Bargain-hunting in Stillwater
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Swedish smorgasbord

Prowling shops around Lindstrom, a visitor finds mementos of past.

Walking around Lindström, it's not hard to guess where the area's first settlers came from.

If the multitude of umlauts don't give it away, the herds of Dala horses and straw goats will. Factor in the giant white coffee pot in the sky, and you can be pretty sure this is Swedish country.

In the 1850s, poor Swedes came pouring into the lakes country west of Taylors Falls. It wasn't the best farmland, but it was cheap, and it looked like Sweden — lots of water, lots of trees and, unfortunately, lots of rocks. Still, it seemed like heaven to the peasants, and the letters they sent home brought more Swedes.

Before long, Chisago County had the highest concentration of rural Swedes outside Sweden. They became American, but after a century they retained so much of the old language and customs that Swedish author Vilhelm Moberg came there in 1948 to research his wildly popular "Emigrants" novels.

His 19th-century characters, Karl Oskar and Kristina, seemed so real to modern Swedes that they're still traveling to Minnesota to see where the fictional couple lived and died.

Until the '60s, Swedish still could be heard on the streets. Today, the Twin Cities is lapping at the edges of the old communities, and hundreds of houses are being built for exurbanites who don't know lefse from a lima bean.

But the towns haven't forgotten their heritage, and they're making sure no one else does, either.

On the U.S. 8 corridor, or Vilhelm Moberg Commemorative Trail, the signs help. In Chisago City, they announce that the town is the sister city to Algutsboda, Sweden, Moberg's hometown. Next comes a sign bidding welcome, or Välkommen, to Lindström, sister city of Tingsryd.

There's another Välkommen painted onto the old water tower, converted in 1992 to a coffeepot that steams for special occasions, and Swedish translations of businesses hang over sidewalks.

Obviously, these are not just any old towns on the prairie. Still, most people hurry through on their way to Taylors Falls and better-known points beyond.

"If only I had a dollar for every time I passed through here with my husband and wanted to stop," my friend Judy said.

Each town is spiked with interesting shops, and one November, Judy and I and our friend Ellen decided we'd go antiques-hunting. Of the four Swedish communities along U.S. 8, Chisago City was our first stop.

Walking into Chisago Antiques, the first thing we saw was a $90 turn-of-the century portrait of the Swedish royal family that included three present and future kings, from Oscar II to Gustaf Adolf, grandfather of the current king. It was propped next to a rustic table and chairs, $600, sponged and stenciled with a prayer and names from a smörgåsbord: fisk, fågel, vilt, sallader, bröd.

"Anything European, especially Swedish, people are going to like," said proprietor Donna Evans.

Down the street, we browsed in Glyer Block Antiques and bought some sticky rolls from D's Bakery before going on to Lindström.

It's the largest town and the heart of the Swedish community. Walking down the street, we got a Swedish lesson from the oval signs hanging over businesses: Antikviteter; antiques; Böcker, books; Kaffee Hus, coffeehouse.

At the bakery, we bought bags of pepparkakor, the addictive ginger cookies for which Swedes are known.

Nearby, a group of local antiques dealers who call themselves the Picket Fence Gals was holding its monthly sale in the vacant drugstore/greenhouse next to the historic Gustaf Anderson House, built in 1879 by a Swedish immigrant who struck it rich on the Montana gold fields. It's now used for community gatherings.

Crowds of shoppers had come to examine the wares, indoors and artfully strewn around the porch and yard. Amid the collection, which included a Swedish winnowing basket, wood skis and hand-painted red-leather clogs, Judy found a $22 blue-painted end table and Ellen a pair of hand-stitched, boiled-wool mittens in pink and black, $12.

On the other end of town, we made a circuit through Stone House Antiques, a beautifully renovated former hardware store that now sells new gifts as well as antiques, including a 1937 illustrated map of Scandinavia, $37, and a rack of lovely, turn-of-the-century baptismal gowns, $95-$125.

Then we headed for the area's largest antiques shop, past storefronts adorned with Dala-horse cutouts and stenciled "Välkommens" encircled with hearts and vines.

At Lindström Antique Mall, there was a whole shelf of white-enamel Swedish coffeepots over the front desk, alongside little blue Dala pigs and a straw goat bound with red ribbons. Dealer Carole Nelson of Forest Lake showed me some lovely Norwegian pewter and enamelware in her booth, then led me over to Barb Lundstad-Vogt's booth, which held many wood pieces immigrants would have brought over from Sweden, $85-$175.

"Now, this is the really fun stuff," Nelson said. "She has a great eye for treasure."

We had lunch at the venerable Dinnerbel, overlooking South Lindström Lake on the spot where Daniel Lindström built his cabin in 1854, replaced in 1889 by the Hotel Peninsula.

Then we pressed on to Center City, where the Swedes squeezed their houses, shops and church between North Center and Pioneer lakes; they may not have gotten rich, but they certainly lived with nice views.

The best view of all is from the cream-brick Chisago Lake Lutheran Church, rebuilt on a hillside in 1882 but founded in 1854. Locally, it's known as the historic Swedish church that hosts the Sankta Lucia Festival of Lights in December, which honors a legendary saint and kicks off the Christmas season.

Tourists know it as the church in the movie "Grumpy Old Men."

"That's our claim to fame here," says Barry Moe, proprietor of Olde Theatre Antique Mall. "People get really excited to see the church that was in the movie."

Three years ago, Moe dialed the wrong phone number and ended up buying the circa-1890 brick building that houses his shop as well as the remarkably preserved auditorium upstairs, where a framed ad commemorates the appearance of famous Swedish comedian Hjalmar Peterson in 1922.

In the former grocery downstairs, Moe sells antiques that include such curios as a Swedish napkin doll, $26, and a big coffee boiler, $45. In the old auditorium, he recently showed Laurel and Hardy films, 25 cents including popcorn and pop, and he's thinking of using a vintage projector to show more old films.

"It's a little rewarding, bringing back such an old building," he says.

There's another store across the street, where Nancy Batcheller sells reproduction wind-up toys at her Red Hen Antiques. They're popular with everyone who visits.

"I have a couple of judges who come down from the courthouse all grumpy, and they play with them; it just makes them feel good," she said.

It would have been fun to climb the sidewalk that goes up the Summit Avenue hill, a National Historic District of houses built between 1882 and 1910. But we pressed on to Eichten's, the gourmet-food purveyor, where we shopped for elk summer sausage, cheese curds and chocolate.

Our last stop was in Shafer at Miller's Antiques, where we perused cases full of glassware, including a Weller glazed Nile ware vase, $175, and a big oak-leaf vase, $250.

In the end, I left with nothing more than a bag of ginger cookies. I could have gotten that at IKEA, but why would I want to? In Chisago County, shopping is more than acquisition; it's a way to look into an era that's not quite over.

"There are so many new people in this community, and even with all the Scandinavians here, it's hard to preserve the tradition we had in the '50s and '60s, when people didn't move around so much," says Sherry Stirling, director of the Chisago County Historical Society. "But I think it's still here, and people enjoy it."

Trip Tips: Chisago County

Getting there: It's about 45 minutes north of the Twin Cities, barring rush-hour and road-construction slowdowns on U.S. 8.

Shopping: In Lindström, Lindström Antique Mall and Stone House Antiques are open daily, as is Gustaf's Galleries, which sells Scandinavian imports and fine arts, up-north fine arts and "encouragement" gifts.

In Center City, the Olde Theatre Antique Mall in Center City is open daily and the Red Hen Thursday through Monday. In Shafer, Miller's Antiques is open daily. Other shops have limited hours, and Chisago Antiques closes for the winter.

Lindström also has a bookstore, old-fashioned meat market and other gift shops that are worth a stop.

Dining: The Dinnerbel and Swedish Inn in Lindström offer traditional dining. In Center City, Eichten's Bistro & Market serves bison burgers, soups, salads and sandwiches.

2010 events: June 25-27, Center City Days. July 7-11, Karl Oskar Days.

In early December, the Sankta Lucia Festival of Lights is held at Chisago Lakes Lutheran Church in Center City, with a procession led by a girl wearing a crown of candles, singing, dancing, goodies and a character dressed as a tomte, a Swedish elf.

According to legend, Lucia was a wealthy young Sicilian woman whose generosity to the poor incensed her fiancé; she refused to change, was put to death by Roman soldiers and later was made a saint. She became a household name in Sweden during a famine when, the legend goes, a large ship came across Lake Vanern carrying a white-robed maiden, her hands full of food for the famished people and wearing a crown of candles to light the way.

Also in Center City, the Celebration of Lakes is held in late January on North Center Lake, with hot-air balloons, dog-sled rides, helicopter rides, ice-fishing contest, kids' games and snowmobile races.

Lodging: In Center City's Summit Avenue historic district, the Summit Inn B&B has a view of North Center Lake and two attractive rooms with shared bath, and the charming Aerie Suite. 651-257-4987.

Information: Chisago Lakes tourism, 651-257-1177.

Last updated on March 17, 2010