Friends of The Abbie Gardner Cabin Historic Site

11/01/2026

“When I look at the cabin now, I do not see a relic, but the place where we lived, laughed, and loved before fate intervened.”

- Abbie Gardner-Sharpe

10/30/2026

The Gardner wagons rolled 110 miles from Clear Lake before they reached this shore. Years later, Abbie wrote down what was waiting for them.

Mary Dreier reads her words on the very ground she was describing. Look at the lake behind her while you listen, and see how much of it you still recognize.

10/28/2026

We’re thrilled to welcome Dr. Kevin Mason to the work of preserving and sharing Abbie Gardner’s story! His research on Abbie Gardner Sharp, Inkpaduta, and the events of 1857 makes him an ideal partner as we plan the next chapter for the cabin. Thank you, Spirit of Okoboji, for making this possible. 🏡

We’re proud to welcome Dr. Kevin Mason as Spirit of Okoboji’s Museum Development and Public History Advisor, supporting the Friends of The Abbie Gardner Cabin Historic Site.

Few people know this story as deeply. Dr. Mason’s research has focused on Inkpaduta, Abbie Gardner Sharp, and the events of 1857 at Spirit Lake, and his article “Inkpaduta in Iowa: Dakota Decline, Dispossession, and Erasure” received the State Historical Society of Iowa’s 2022 Mildred Throne–Charles Aldrich Award for academic history.

He is the author of Retracing the Dragoon Trail in Iowa (Michigan State University Press), has served with the State Historical Society of Iowa Board of Trustees, Preservation Iowa, Wright on the Park, and the Winnebago Historical Society, and created Notes on Iowa, which shares Iowa history with more than 3 million people each week.

We’re excited for what this means for the Abbie Gardner Cabin and for sharing the Iowa Great Lakes’ history with future generations.

10/27/2026

Two families spent the winter of 1856 in this one room, on a dirt floor, while the snow piled up outside.

The Gardners had carried something clear across the country from New York. That first winter on Pillsbury Point, it ended up on the cabin floor.

Abbie wrote that it made the place cozy. Step inside with Mary Dreier and hear what it was.

10/24/2026

Thousands of folks pass over this ground every summer, and hardly a one knows what may lie beneath their feet.

Mary Dreier shares a piece of the Gardner and Luce story that few have heard.

Arnolds Park Amusement Park

10/23/2026

It's National Canning Day, though the Gardners never knew the glass canning jar. It was patented in 1858, two years after they reached these lakes.

Pioneer families of their day kept food through winter by drying it, salting it down, or packing it in crocks of brine. The Gardners had less to put by than most. They came in July of 1856, too late in the season to plant a crop.

What do you put up for winter at your house?

10/21/2026

Abbie's cabin hasn’t seen this many footsteps on its paths since summer time!

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the Abbie Walkabout on October 8th. We had a record turnout and as the evening light came through the fall leaves, you followed along from the monument to the grave site and on across the grounds, listening close to the stories this ground still holds.

Abbie Gardner spent the rest of her life making sure folks didn’t forget what happened here in 1857. Seeing a crowd like this stand where she stood, asking questions as dusk settled in, would’ve pleased her, we reckon.

A special thank-you to Mary Dreier for leading the way, and to our volunteers. Evenings like this happen because people care enough to show up.

If you missed it, follow our page where we will announce the next event!

10/15/2026

10/14/2026

Stand on Pillsbury Point today and you see docks and cottages and boats.

In July of 1856 the Gardners stood on this same ground and saw none of it. Mary Dreier tells what was here instead, and what Abbie wrote of hearing after dark.