History

Hand-Hewn Log Home Built in the 1800’s

In 1989 we purchased a Wisconsin farm which had two houses on the property. The house we live in was built in 1903 and the original house was a two story, hand-hewn-log structure. The Magnuson family built original house in the 1800’s when they emigrated from “Smoland Prairie,” a province in Sweden. That is why we named our inn – "Smoland Prairie Homestead Inn."

No one had lived in the house for 50 years except squirrels. The squirrels had eaten holes in the wooden floors upstairs. There was no glass in most of the windows and the doors would not open or close. The foundation was crumbling, too. Renovating the house promised to be a challenge, an adventure and a "dream come true" for us. The first thing we did was put plastic on all the windows and storm doors on to preserve the old inside doors. We have taken pictures of the house before and after for people to see and compare when they come.

Getting started