Discover Wisconsin’s Cornish
History and the Couple
Who Helped Preserve It
Every building tells a story, and at Pendarvis, there are plenty, each with a unique narrative to tell. Your journey through this picturesque cluster of stone structures will take you not only through the stories of the people who originally created and inhabited them, but also the story of Bob Neal and Edgar Hellum, the couple who salvaged, restored, and made these buildings shine again.
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Pendarvis
Tucked away in historic Mineral Point, Pendarvis celebrates the 20th century preservation efforts of
Merry Christmas from all of us at Pendarvis! Pictured here is Pendarvis founder Edgar Hellum with his mother, Milla, at Christmas in the 1960s.
📸 Pendarvis Archives ... See MoreSee Less
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Happy Christmas Eve! Pendarvis founders Bob Neal and Edgar Hellum would visit Edgar's mother, Milla, in Edgar's hometown of Stoughton every Christmas. Pictured here is their Christmas Eve dinner party in Stoughton, likely in the late 1950s.
📸 Left to right, Bob Neal, Edgar Hellum, Milla Hellum, Olaus, Amanda, Clara, Marcia, and Ingeborg Vea (Edgar's aunt); Pendarvis Archives
📸 Left to right, Marcia, Harold, Olaus, Bob Neal, Ingeborg Vea; Pendarvis Archives ... See MoreSee Less
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We're in the final days before Christmas and we hope you have your Christmas shopping done!
"It was always exciting to watch each Bob and Edgar open the (Christmas) package from each other; (especially the Christmas when we [Ruth and Cleve Grant] both knew that Bob had purchased an antique Russian doll tea cozy to give to Edgar, which they both had admired and felt they could not afford. When Edgar learned the antique Russian doll tea cozy had been sold from Sharratt's shop in Madison, he and Betty Cass worked together and made a similar one to give to Bob. What a moment that was when they opened their packages and found they each had a Russian doll tea cozy."
-Ruth Grant, letter dated October 7, 1983
📸: Bob and Edgar's Russian doll tea cozies ... See MoreSee Less
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What a great story!