Jim and Kristen Lindberg have spent the past five years renovating and researching the history of their Swedish settler’s cabin in Scandia. “Everybody asks, ‘What are you going to do with it?’” said Jim Lindberg. “My wife and I have a kind of standard answer to that: We don’t have a clue. We’re not going to rent it out. We’re just having fun with it. This is our cabin we can walk to.” The cabin, more than 150 years old, is on part of the Lindbergs’ 32-acre property near Goose Lake. The couple, who live on Olinda Trail, bought the 576-square-foot log cabin on Parrish Road North 12 years ago, along with a heated white pole barn and nine acres of land. The couple started their restoration project in 2019, and it turned out to be a lifesaver during COVID, he said. “We needed a project, and we were getting to be of an age where we needed to do something with it before we were gone,” he said. According to the abstract, the land where the Lindbergs’ log cabin is located was deeded to Swedish immigrant Nels Bengts in 1855 and 1856. It is believed that the log cabin, crafted with dovetail corners, was built sometime in the 1860s, Lindberg said. “Remember, they had no power tools, and the logs and stones were all harvested in the area,” he said. “The limestone foundation came from the (St. Croix) River. They brought it up here by oxen.” Restored log by log The Lindbergs, starting in 2019, worked with Rustic Innovations, a barn-restoration company in Scandia, to number and tag the logs in each corner. They dismantled the cabin, and power-washed the logs and sprayed them for bugs. The logs were stored in the pole barn on the property for a year while many were repaired. The cabin’s siding was removed and the interior walls were taken out — down to the bare logs. “There were some 1870 Swedish newspapers on the outside, underneath the tar paper and the siding,” he said. “They must have been used for insulation.” New logs, milled from the Cummins Sawmill in Frederick, Wis., and treated to look like aged logs, were used for the bottom two rows, replacing logs that had rotted and were not repairable, Lindberg said. An extra bonus of the new logs? They are thicker than the original ones, so they give the cabin an extra four inches of headroom, he said. New windows from Andersen Corp. were installed, and porches were added to the front and back of the cabin “to protect the logs from elements,” Lindberg said. Related Articles Local News | West St. Paul YMCA site eyed for mixed-use redevelopment Local News | St. Paul zoning board rebuffs storage proposal for Lowertown’s Allen building Local News | As Habitat for Humanity builds homes in St. Paul, other Habitat programs help people buy existing homes Local News | Here’s what’s new at the Twin Cities Marathon this year Local News | Liberty Classical Academy sues May Township over blocked expansion plans Working with friends who have a sawmill on their farm in northern Scandia, Lindberg used walnut wood from trees on the property to create much of the trim inside the cabin. He and friends also dismantled the original limestone foundation and used it for landscaping on the property. “I’ve got a diesel tractor, and we pulled all the limestone rocks out of the foundation and made a fence out of them,” he said. A new concrete floor — stamped and stained to look like wood — includes radiant in-floor heat to keep the cabin warm. Some of the original fir flooring was reused on a wall near the cabin’s west entrance, and a loft bedroom was removed to make room for a “cathedral ceiling” on the south end. Leftover pegs and boards were used to provide coat hangers and door knobs, and leftover flooring was reused to make screen doors. The log cabin’s name, Barnvännen, which means “the childhood friend” in Swedish, is painted on a red Dala horse posted near the cabin’s front door. Honor the craftsmanship The Lindbergs say they couldn’t have restored the log cabin without the help of numerous friends and local contractors. Their aim, he said, was to honor the craftsmanship of early Swedish immigrants and give the cabin a functional purpose once again. Jim Lindberg, 78, retired in 2015 after 43 years at Security State Bank of Marine, including 31 years as president. He grew up in Scandia and lived on his family’s 120-acre farm until he was 11. “I am a farm kid who likes to work — or at least I was,” he said. “I helped build two of our own homes and financed construction on maybe thousands.” The cabin is just a short walk across a field from the Lindbergs’ house. “We are over there most days,” Lindberg said. After five years of work, the log cabin is still “a work in progress,” he said. “There’s still work to be done on the upstairs, landscaping, maintenance. “We love our home and log house,” he said. “We are blessed and grateful to be healthy and happy in Scandia.” Scandia Historic Homes Tour and Silent Auction When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 12; deadline to purchase tickets is Sunday, Oct. 6 Cost: Tickets are $50 per person, which includes a picnic lunch (chicken salad croissant sandwiches, pasta salad, mixed seasonal fruit, cookie and beverage) and coffee and snacks at registration. Related Articles Local News | Liberty Classical Academy sues May Township over blocked expansion plans Local News | 15-year-old boy missing from Woodbury since Monday found safe Local News | Forest Lake parts way with interim administrator after closed session Local News | Watch for overnight road closure Thursday-Friday on Minnesota 36 Local News | Have questions about home buying? Get answers at Thursday’s housing fair. Benefits: A fundraiser for the Scandia Heritage Alliance, a nonprofit group leading the effort to create an arts and heritage center in Scandia. Details: Tour 12 private homes and cabins in Scandia, including Barnvännen at 21800 Parrish Road N., Scandia; a river cottage in historic Otisville, and a 1970s Prairie School-designed house overlooking the St. Croix River designed by the late architect Mike McGuire. Where: Tour registration opens and silent auction items will be on display starting at 9 a.m. Oct. 12 at the Scandia Community Center, 14727 209th St. N., Scandia. Info: sha.cbo.io