tower Archives - Expat Alien

Norwegian businessman Bert Enger (1864-1931) left his estate to the city of Duluth, MN and to some charitable organizations. One third of the money was used to build a memorial tower and 330 acre park on Skyline Drive. The tower was dedicated by Olav, Crown Prince of Norway in 1939.

Enger Tower is five stories up with nice wide steps and railings so not a difficult climb. It is 80 feet tall and has an amazing panoramic view from the top. Today the park has a Japanese garden with a Peace Bell you can ring. It was a gift of Duluth’s sister city, Ohara-Isumi.

The Tower

The View

The Japanese Garden

Interesting note on the bell. The original Peace Bell which was in the former Cho-ei Temple, is the oldest remaining bell in Ohara, Japan. Ohara donated the bell to a wartime scrap drive but for some reason it was never destroyed. After WWI, in 1946, sailors on the USS Duluth found the bell and took it to the US giving it to the city of Duluth where it was displayed in City Hall. In 1951, the Dean of Chiba University School of Horticulture was pursuing academic travel in the US. He learned of the bell’s existence, met with the Mayor if Duluth, and asked for its return. Mayor George Johnson along with Professor Peterson of the University of Minnesota and the US Air Force and Navy, returned the bell to Ohara on May 2, 1954.

This bell is a close replica of the original bell and presented to Duluth as the Japan-US Friendship Peace Bell, dedicated on June 5, 1994.

Kettle Moraine State Forest in eastern Wisconsin covers 30,000 acres.

A long time ago, the area was covered in glaciers. A moraine is an accumulation of glacial debris, such as rocks and silt. Kettles are landforms molded by melting glaciers.

Lapham Peak was formed about 10,000 yrs ago by a glacier which made it the highest point in Waukesha County with a elevation of 1,233 ft above sea level. At the top is an observation tower (45 ft tall). In the late 1800’s the Federal Signal Service Division of Telegrams and Reports established a signal station on the peak to receive meteorological observations from Pike’s Peak, Colorado. Increase A. Lapham collected the data and relayed it to all the Great Lakes ports to warn them about approaching storms.

Lapham Peak now encompasses over 1,000 acres of cross country ski trails and other recreational activities.

As we entered the area we came upon a deer standing stock still looking right at us as if we had lost our mind. It was beautiful.