October 15th

Monday, October 15th, 2018

I live in the old Hassan Township.

The city of Rogers annexed the township in 2009, but the long seeded history of the township lives on through the generations of farming families in the area, structures such as the church Paul and I got married in, and the trees.

Wait, trees?

Yep. The trees.

The name “Hassan” is derived from the Dakota word chanhasen, meaning Sugar Maple Tree. As the then-township of Chanhassan had recently been established, the “chan-” was dropped to avoid confusion.

Settled by German immigrants in 1854, the area at the time (called “The Big Woods”) was mostly covered by oak, elm, basswood, and maple. Although the settlers removed much of the timber to farm the area, large areas of woods still stand, including the ten acres on our farm.

Sugar Maple trees turn bright yellow or gold in the fall, and certain areas of our woods are primarily Sugar Maple, including the main entrance to our woods.

One of my favorite places in the world.