Pond-Dakota Mission Park is 40 acre Bloomington park on the bluffs of the Minnesota River, and is open every day from dawn to 10 pm. It is built on the grounds of a former mission founded by brothers, Gideon and Samuel Pond. While Saturdays are the best day to visit if you are interested in the historical and cultural significance of the land, families can visit the park and explore the grounds any day. In the winter they park even offers a limited number of snowshoes for patrons to borrow while exploring the grounds. The historic 1856 Gideon and Agnes Pond House, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, sits in the park. Run by the Pond Dakota Heritage Society and the City of Bloomington, the park is an education site that works to preserve the rich history of and explore contrasting cultural and religious viewpoints of the early Minnesota settlers, the Christian missionaries and the Dakota people of the mid-nineteenth century. The Pond House is open on Saturday (formerly Sunday) from 1:30 – 4 p.m. Tours are free. The weekly open houses often have special themes and are very family-friendly, which you can find on our Family Fun Calendar. The Pond Dakota Heritage Society often arranges guest speakers for these events. Like many parks in the Twin Cities area, Pond Dakota offers maple syrup programs each March. Learn about the process of making maple syrup with hands-on activities at the park. Each year we collect activities from around the Twin Cities in our article: Maple Syruping with Kids in the Twin Cities. Each fall Bloomington celebrates the Pond history with River Rendezvous, a living history event that employers over 40 costumed reenactors to provide demonstrations and encourage hands-on participation of the visitors. Families can interactively learn about 19th century pioneer life and trades, Native American life including dance performances, frontier farming, the fur trade, wilderness skills, and fun & games. Admission to this event is $10/adult; $5/children 4-17, and children under 4 are free. For more information call Bloomington Parks and Recreation at 952-563-8693. Each summer Pond Dakota hosts a summer program teaching the Dakota language to anyone who wants to learn – kids and adults. It is one of the more affordable summer camp programs in our annual guide Families who want to support the work of the Pond Dakota Heritage Society can join on an annual Household level for $30. More information can be found on the website. For families who would like to learn more about the Pond Family, there are several local options for studying the historic pond house, Native American history in Hennepin County and Pond Family: This article includes an affiliate link to Bookshop.org, an online bookstore with a mission to financially support local, independent bookstores. Family Fun Twin Cities receives a small commission on books ordered through our link. If you want to find a specific local bookstore to support, find them on this map and they’ll receive the full profit off your order. Otherwise, your order will contribute to an earnings pool that will be evenly distributed among independent bookstores (even those that don’t use Bookshop). Learn more here.
Related Articles:
The Agnes and Gideon Pond House
Saturday Open House at the Pond House
Maple Syrup Programs
Annual River Rendezvous at Pond-Dakota Mission Park
Dakota Language Summer Camps
Self-Guided Tours of Pond-Dakota Mission Park
Membership to the Pond Dakota Heritage Society
Further Study for History-Loving Families
Useful Links:
The Family Fun Twin Cities Directory is the most extensive collection of companies, organizations, activities and places to find things to do with kids in the Twin Cities.