|
|
When asked why the progress on Highway 61 through Grand Marais had slowed to a halt near Birch Terrace Restaurant and Lounge, Minnesota Department of Transportation Engineer Duane Hill explained, “MnDOT’s environmental commitment was to have a cultural resource monitor onsite while the excavation in that area was being completed. MnDOT has told our contractor that they cannot begin excavation work near Birch Terrace (from 5th to 7th Avenue) until MnDOT can have cultural resources monitor onsite, which will be next Monday (August 2).”
Two unmarked Ojibwe graves are purportedly on the property owned first by Charles and Anna Johnson, founders of the Johnson Heritage Outpost Art Gallery in downtown Grand Marais, and builders of the home that was converted into a restaurant in the mid 1940’s. Just where the graves are has long remained a mystery, but they are noted in the menus provided to Birch Terrace customers.
While most businesses were offered modest sums of money to sign easements to allow the state to use some of their property for the Highway 61 rebuild, Birch Terrace was never given that offer. On May 15, 2019, Duane Hill wrote the owners, Larsen Brothers LLC., “MnDOT modified the construction limits in this area and there is no temporary or permanent property acquisition needed at this location.”
Still, a small strip of land and the sidewalk in front of the restaurant is slated to be upgraded, so that’s presumably the property that will be looked at by MnDOT’s cultural resource monitor.
Leave a Reply