News

field base inside the Saxonia House

archaeological study at the Saxonia House

Over this summer and next, Dr. Ned Farley of the Department of Anthropology at Wisconsin Lutheran College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, will lead students and staff of Wisconsin Lutheran College to study the historic Saxonia House site. The House is on the National Register of Historic Places (Listing #114614). They will locate and document several structures associated with the homestead and its role in the lives of migrant families from Saxony who relocated to the American Midwest in the late 1840s.


Farley’s team will provide the State of Wisconsin with an archaeological assessment of a portion of the property associated with the Saxonia House. The northern portion of the property will be the focus of the proposed Phase 1B research. The goal of this research is to determine the footprint of the structure originally built onto the c.1855 home that served as the dance hall and tavern, and to identify the location and condition of a variety of structures associated with the historic farm and brewery.

Our latest booklet!

SOMETHING WORTH SAVING -

A NORWEGIAN LOG HOUSE IN AMERICA

by Dr. Michael Besch


During a 2018 trip to Norway, Alan and Marilyn Pape from the Friends of the Saxonia House, visited the Bale log house in Balestrand. There they discovered that a near twin of the Bale House coincidentally might still be standing back home in Wisconsin! When they returned hime, Alan and restoration architect, Greg Zahn located the twin building still standing in a grove of brush 8 miles north of Madison. The owners of the log house were happy to donate it for educational purposes to Friends of the Saxonia House. Back in Balestrand, the Bale house is locally known as "the most painted and photographed log house on its original site in Norway.


Follow Dr. Michael Besch's research discoveries of these two log houses and the efforts to save one of them as an important example of Old World pioneer past.

Highlights from 2025

2025 year in review slide
guests at Oktoberfest
3rd Annual Oktoberfest was held Sept. 20, 2025 11-2 pm.  Brats, beer, music, tours!!! It's been 170 years~
Oktoberfest beer tasting
drawing of Saxonia House by Alan Pape
image of song sung at the Saxonia House dedication 1855

The Dedication Song
We now have an accurate translation of the original Dedication Song, sung on November 3rd, 1855, at the dedication of Saxonia House. You can read this and other recent discoveries in the slide show from the 2023 Annual meeting.