A Craftsman on Two Continents

Aslak Olsen Lie House Restoration & Education Project

Background and History

The Aslak Olsen Lie (pronounced Lee) House was built in Southern Wisconsin in 1848-49. Aslak was a master craftsman, carpenter, cabinetmaker, and blacksmith in his native Norway and then in the United States. He is one of the few country immigrant craftsmen in the United States whose work has been traced on both sides of the Atlantic. His Wisconsin home is one of the oldest Norwegian American structures in Wisconsin.

Since the mid 1960’s, the Lie House had sat empty, untended and inaccessible to the public. By 2002, this 34′ X 17′ two-story log and timber frame home was in desperate need of relocation and extensive restoration if it was to survive.  To preserve and honor this unique piece of Norwegian-American, early-Wisconsin history, its owners donated this treasure to Folklore Village in 2003. The Aslak Olsen Lie House has since been painstakingly documented, labeled, dismantled and all materials placed in storage.

At every step of the way, this project has been enthusiastically supported and encouraged by State, Regional and National historians. They have been joined in their support by their counterparts in Norway. All agree that this is a one-of-a-kind building with a rich and multi-faceted story. It is also agreed that Lie’s Wisconsin home deserves the effort and expense it will take to restore and bring it back to life.

A thoroughly researched Historical, Architectural Analysis, and Restoration Plan for the Lie House was completed in early 2009, thanks to a grant from the Jeffris Family Endowed Preservation Fund through the National Trust for Historic Preservation. 

We have been moving forward with the rebuilding process since the spring of 2015. We have assembled a task force of knowledgeable volunteers, whose collective experience and enthusiasm promises to see this project to completion.