MINOT – The Minot Historical Society met on March 14 when the club president, Hester Gilpatric, showed slides of a trip she and her husband, David, took to Finland in 2005.

Mrs. Gilpatric showed slides of the statues of fisherman, the open malls with vendors and a place for entertainers. The oldest buildings, erected in 1757, were built for Parliament, then used for the president and now as a museum. The Swedes built fortification to protect the harbor when they occupied Finland.

She showed the museums, flowers and the Olympic facilities used when Helsinki was the host. The Gilpatrics traveled to many cities and towns, going north along the coast and returning by a more inland route.

The trip was mostly to visit the Ervasti family who has a town named after them. Mrs. Gilpatric’s mother was an Ervasti.

Mrs. Gilpatric showed slides of the National Cathedral and drawings of moose along the roads warning travelers of “moose crossings.” They visited the area where the Arctic Circle crosses Finland and the Russian-Finland border, showing the trenches built to protect against the Russian invasion in 1939.

At the meeting, notes from the journal of Evelyn Brown Goodwin, 1915 to 1979, were presented to the society by Joyce Hellen. A card was signed for member Roland Hemond, who was reported in the hospital.

The next meeting will be on Tuesday, April 11, at the Minot Town Office. The program will be on “Old Baseball Teams,” with Jim Baumer as speaker. He requests that people bring old pictures they may have of baseball.

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