"96-Year-Old Residence Still in Use" from the September 15, 1949 Door County Advocate
Built in 1853, former Ephraim Parsonage Now Summer Home
96-Year-Old Residence Still in Use
ITS ORIGINAL HISTORY was that of the first parsonage in Door county; today it is the charming summer home of Mrs. James A. Field, Chicago. The building is the former Iverson parsonage in the photograph above. One of Ephraim's most picturesque and historical places, the Field home stands today as a silent memorial to the past. — Advocate photo
Built in 1853, former Ephraim Parsonage Now Summer Home
Just like stepping into a page of history is entering one of the oldest houses in the county, the former Iverson parsonage, on the hill in Ephraim.
Here Mrs. James A. Field, Chicago, has preserved the spirit of the past in modernizing the house for a summer residence. A perfect summer home it makes—with the charm and graciousness of a time gone by.
The history of Ephraim, which is truly a "narrative of unusual romance, of idealistic vision and of sweet piety," as the county historian, H. R. Holand, Ephraim, has so aptly written, is closely connected with the present Field summer home. For it was there that the Rev. A. M. Iverson lived; there that the council and worship of the small colony of Moravian settlers who broke away from the Tank colony in Green Bay were held.
If House Could Speak
The 96-year-old house could tell many a story of early hardship and tribulation, of Ephraim's early beginning and the sympathetic, faithful pastorate of the Rev. Iverson.
Rev. Iverson's own account of first reaching Ephraim in February, 1853, reveals that he came from Eagle island to land close to where he later built his own home. There on that fateful day in Ephraim Rev. Iverson kneeled down on the white snow among the evergreens to pray.
"I received assurance that right here would our Lord plant His congregation and never forsake it in spite of all humble circumstances," he later wrote.
Coming to Ephraim to settle in May of '53 the colonists first lived in temporary shanties on Eagle (Horseshoe) island until November, 1853. In the latter month they moved to the present site of Ephraim.
Oldest Church Built
"Here has the sparrow found a home and the swallow a nest," thought Rev. Iverson, as he first swung his axe over his head to clear land and build his home. About the middle of November four houses were completed, including Iverson's.
Surviving cholera, a winter with 3 1/2 feet of snow on the level and no post office or store for 75 miles, the Moravians met regularly for divine worship in the Iverson living room. In 1857 the present Ephraim Moravian church, the oldest church in the county and also the oldest church of continuous services in Northern Wisconsin was built.
In size, 36 feet x 24 feet, the Iverson home was considered a most excellent and roomy house. It was erected by Even Nelson and Peter Weborg whose good workmanship can still be seen in the construction. Some of the other colonists made the shingles, while Rev. Iverson personally made the door, windows and other trimmings.
Electric Dish Washer
Now 96 years old, the former parsonage contains such modernizations as an electric dish washer. However, more than anything, the atmosphere of history remains with the ancient planked floors, well trod straight ladder stairs leading upstairs and seasoned beams.
Whitewashed with blue trim, the Field summer home presents an interesting appearance, set back as it is on the hill on Ephraim's upper road. It is well shaded by evergreens and other trees which were probably saplings when the Moravians first landed in Ephraim.
Although Mrs. Field has not been in Ephraim this summer, Mrs. E. A. Bournique and daughter Helen, Chicago. spent the month of August in the summer home.
Thus, this birthplace of Door county history, remains today as a silent memorial to the spirit of the Rev, A. M. Iverson and the first Moravian colonists who founded Ephraim.
[author not stated]
Courtesy of the Door County Library Newspaper Archive