We awoke to clear blue skies. Our first stop was to buy some groceries. We then headed toward the Minnesota state capitol. Along the way we stopped at Indian Mounds City Park. There are several burial mounds there of Indians from the Hopewellian culture that arrived in this area about 1600 years ago.
After sandwiches for lunch we continued on to the capitol building in St Paul, MN. It was their third capitol building and was completed in 1905. The dome is the largest self-supporting marble dome in the country. The exterior is white Georgia marble and Minnesota granite. The interior of the building is very ornate and impressive with marbles and other stones from all over the world. Our guide took us to an outdoor viewing deck at the base of the dome where we could see all of downtown St Paul, MN and, in the distance, the skyscrapers of Minneapolis, MN.
After our tour of the capitol we went to the James J. Hill house just a few blocks away and up on the hill overlooking the city. Hill, the builder of the Great Northern Railway, built this 36,000 square foot home for his wife and family of ten children in 1891. The home has three floors of living space plus the basement which contained the kitchen and working space for the many servants. There were two grand hallways that each contained 2000 square feet. This was a very large and impressive mansion that had all of the latest features for its time. These include indoor plumbing with hot water, gas fireplaces, and an electrical security system. After our tour we walked along Summit Avenue and enjoyed seeing many other fine homes that were along this street, each with their own unique architecture though none compare in size to the Hill Mansion. Nearby is the grand St Paul’s Cathedral that was built in 1915. It is much like European cathedrals and the dome is reportedly taller than the dome on the state capitol.
Next we drove to the north side of the twin cities to work on our journal and photos before having dinner at Applebees. We then parked our van for the night at the Walmart in Blaine, MN.
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