Listening Point was the private retreat of conservationist

Sigurd F. Olson Sigurd Ferdinand Olson (April 4, 1899 – January 13, 1982) was an American writer, environmentalist, and advocate for the protection of wilderness. For more than thirty years, he served as a wilderness guide in the lakes and forests of the Que ...

(1899–1982) on

Burntside Lake Burntside Lake is a lake, located northwest of Ely, Minnesota, in Saint Louis County, Minnesota. Its western boundary adjoins the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness on Tamarack Creek. Native fish include Bluegill, Golden Shiner, Green Su ...

in Morse Township, Minnesota, United States. Olson acquired the property in 1956, then purchased a log cabin and a log

sauna A sauna (, ) is a room or building designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions or an establishment with one or more of these facilities. The steam and high heat make the bathers perspire. A thermometer in a sauna is used to meas ...

elsewhere that he had dismantled, moved to Listening Point, and reassembled. In 1998 the Listening Point Foundation was organized to preserve the property as an

open-air museum An open-air museum is a museum that exhibits collections of buildings and artifacts outdoors. It is also frequently known as a museum of buildings or a folk museum. Definition Open air is "the unconfined atmosphere ... outside buildings" ...

to Olson. With In 2007 Listening Point was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

for its national significance in the themes of conservation and literature. The

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...

consists of five

contributing properties In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distr ...

: the cabin, the sauna, an outhouse, a dock, and the network of trails. The property was nominated for its association with Sigurd Olson, whose writing and advocacy had a national impact on conservation. Olson began his work in the 1920s, opposing development of the

Boundary Waters The Boundary Waters, also called the Quetico-Superior Country, is a region of wilderness straddling the Canada–United States border between Ontario and Minnesota, in the area just west of Lake Superior. While "Boundary Waters" is a common nam ...

, and capped his career with the passage of the

Wilderness Act The Wilderness Act of 1964 () is a federal land management statute meant to protect U.S. Wilderness Area, federal wilderness and to create a formal mechanism for designating wilderness. It was written by Howard Zahniser of The Wilderness Socie ...

in 1964. The Listening Point Foundation offers tours and events at the site, designed to limit impacts to its historic and natural integrity.

References

External links

*
The Listening Point Foundation
{{authority control 1956 establishments in Minnesota Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota Literary museums in the United States Museums in St. Louis County, Minnesota National Register of Historic Places in St. Louis County, Minnesota Open-air museums in Minnesota

See also

References

External links