By Debra Fitzgerald
For The News-Chronicle
North of Sister Bay on Hwy. 42, just before one descends a steep hill into the lap of Ellison Bay, a high-bluff perspective offers what's arguably Door County's most breathtaking view.
But more than just a sweeping water vista, the site also offers a glimpse into one of Door County's oldest, settled pasts - a glimpse that will now be preserved thanks to the generosity of a family whose ancestors have lived atop the bluff continuously since 1871.
Russell and Virginia Hanson recently sold their 132-year-old homestead to the Liberty Grove Historical Society for half its appraised price. The 14-acre site contains the first frame house in the area and a log building that was the first German Lutheran Church in Ellison Bay.
"I don't want to see condominiums up here," said Russell, 82.
For good reason: Not only have he and Virginia raised their three children in the home and lived there for their entire 60-year marriage, but the house was built by Russell's grandfather, Augustus Johnson, after he purchased 80 acres from the Swedish-born Johann Eliason, founder of Ellison Bay. Johnson cleared the natural forest and together, he and his German wife had 10 children in what was then a two-room house. "I don't know where they put them," Russell said. "They must have set them up in the corners."
Russell is the youngest and only surviving son of Ella Johnson and the Swedish-born Albert Hanson. When he was a year old, his parents bought the farm from his mother's brother.
"So I've lived here for 81 years and never moved," Russell said.
The Hansons' three children have all built houses close to their childhood home on chunks of property split off from the original parcel. Across State 42 is the gift shop the Hansons used to own. Next to that is where they raised Shetland ponies for 20 years and operated a pony ring for children.
"On Sundays, that whole yard was full of people," Russell said.
Virginia, the family historian, has written two books alive with photographs where she has meticulously chronicled the family's genealogy all the way back to their Norwegian and German roots. Many of those same photographs adorn the walls of her home.
"When you start to work on something like that, you just sort of go into a different world in your mind and you're thinking of what all really went on in this house," Virginia said.
Lifelong residents
Having lived so fully in the house herself, then entered so fully into the lives of the home's past occupants, Virginia found it difficult at first to swallow Russell's suggestion that they sell the homestead to the historical society.
"Then I thought we've had almost 60 years in October that we've lived here, and we're not going to take it to our grave," Virginia said. "And we have three children - which one is going to take it? This way, no one will have it, but it will always be here for them to see. We can always walk the grounds, and the kids can always walk the grounds and it can still be a part of their life. So I came to realize that it was a good thing to do."
The Hansons will remain in the house for as long as they live or whenever they care to move. The historical society will take up occupancy in the barn and the log cabin, which Russell moved onto the property in 1966 from its original site next to where the Hillside Supper Club stands today.
"When you enter Ellison Bay, this is what you see immediately. It's astounding, a magnificent coup," said Marilyn Banzhaf, president of the Liberty Grove Historical Society, which until recently was called the Ellison Bay/Gills Rock Historical Society. "We're so grateful that they've worked with us the way they did so we can keep this property the way it is."
Occasionally, the historical society hopes to open up the Hansons' home so people can take a longer look into the past. Lifelong collectors, the Hansons have furnished the home with museum-quality antiques, many of them carefully restored by Virginia herself, each of them with their own history, memory, or story.
This is an antique boat compass, an old Norwegian fiddle, Russell's aunt's organ, the dress Virginia was baptized in, the windows from their old Church, a bedroom pee pot and a thunder mug - "for No. 2" - so exquisitely designed, the unknowing might use it for a soup tureen.
Over there, on that wall, is the bobber Russell's father used when ice fishing for trout.
"He'd put a herring on the hook for bait and when he caught the fish, he'd put the line over his back and run like hell, and the fish would pop right out of the hole," Russell said.
Everywhere, the house and barn and log cabin contain visual reminders of a simpler but harder life when clothes were handsewn and handwashed and butter handchurned; when children walked to school, bought suckers for a penny and trout sold for 3 cents a pound; when Russell would strap on skates and race hellbent down the State 42 hill in Ellison Bay; when, as a young girl, his mother herded cattle down that same hill before him, taking chisels along in winter to break holes in the ice for cows to drink.
Donations sought
More than the view, it's that historical perspective the Hansons have secured by making their home affordable to the historical society, Banzhaf said. Linking people to the past offers them a sense of community and belonging. Learning about the hardships the early settlers endured to wrestle a living from the unforgiving county can give people a better appreciation for what they have today - particularly children, who might take for granted their lives of modern convenience.
"I hope it instills in them some values and even some morals and ethics they might be losing in just seeing life on television," she said.
With a name change and a new home, now all the historical society needs is money. The society closed on the purchase of the home with a $25,000 deposit. But even with the Hanson's generosity, $225,000 more still needs to be raised.
Donations are welcome and fundraising is ongoing. For example, the historical society holds two annual rummage sales, a summer fish boil, and a fall spaghetti dinner.
On July 26, it will host an arts and crafts fair on the Hanson site that will feature an antique farm and tractor show exhibit. The society also collects old pictures from local residents for its annual Collectible Calendar, which it sells at Olde Ellison Bay Days and through local merchants. A T-shirt and sweatshirt are also available with a picture of Gust Klenke's garage on them at Renee's on State 42 in Ellison Bay. Restoring Klenke's garage was the first project the society undertook when it formed four years ago.
One day, the historical society might turn the restored log cabin back into a chapel for weddings. Eventually, picnic tables will be placed on the site for the public to enjoy.
"We just want to share it with all of Door County," Banzhaf said.
Door
County news 
