Venture to Venturia

This weekend, Charles and I drove to explore the roots of one of Charles' best friends in the small southern North Dakota town of Venturia. Venturia was where the first of their family immigrated to the United States.  We arrived in the afternoon without a plan, and that quickly took care of itself. As we slowly drove down main street, of which I think there are maybe two functioning buildings, we noticed that the watering hole "the Duck Inn' was open, so we stopped for a drink.

We went in to the Duck Inn and were welcomed into a cool, smoke-filled dive bar. NASCAR playing on two TVs, there were only two guys in there - the barkeep and one patron.  After we got our drinks, Charles started chatting up the bar tender and the other patron. He asked them if they knew anyone with the last name of Haas in town, and they said "Yeah, there's a Murel Haas. Just moved back not too long ago.' He asked how many people lived in town: "17 - well 19 now that the Haases moved back."

Then we drove around town a little bit and saw a handful of houses - some in good shape, some in not. Everyone was friendly - when they saw us slowly drive by they always waved - it was a beautiful day and most folks were outside working on something.

 

We were able to find an abandoned home with the Haas silo in front of the home, and we visited the cemetery where several of their relatives were buried.

While on the road, we saw several beautiful sunflower fields and a pretty sunset, and we stopped for a tasty dinner in Bismark!