07/21/2026
OPEN HOUSE -August 16, 2026 - 2 to 6 pm.
Granly Historical Foundation welcomes you to visit our Granly property Sunday August 16th from 2 to 6 pm.
We open the doors to our restored and preserved 90 year old forsamlingshus ( Bethany church- Danish meeting house).
Please come visit and enjoy seeing our 5 acre memorial park and cemetery. We are proud of the restoration and preservation of our Jackson County ancestral treasure.
We are descendants of 25 families of Denmark who moved to America, lived in Wisconsin, Montana. Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan, Nebraska, plus other areas of the U. S.
These families made the big move to Mississippi in 1930-34. The move happened because of the “Depression” and the traumatic “Dust Bowl”. Most were self sustaining families who farmed small farms. The loss of crops and livestock brought famine and severe hard times for these families.
An Iowa banker and realtor established the Granly Colony in NE Jackson County, MS by purchasing the cut-over timber land of Lampton Realty. The offer of farm land in Mississippi was advertised in Danish American newspapers.
So many families packed their belongings and families into whatever transportation they could afford and made the BIG MOVE to Jackson County MS.
My Aunt Anna Nygaard, a nurse at Charity Hospital in New Orleans, bought 40 acres in Dec 1929. She wrote to my Dad, Hans Nygaard, A WWI Vet who was living in Chicago and said. “Now you cans finally have the dairy farm you have wanted. Together they worked that first purchased land and began a new life in Mississippi.
So many stories of these wonderful families becoming Mississippians!
The Bethany Church - the Forsamlingshus, is my personal treasure of happiness. The Minister who moved here in 1930, Rev Knude Knudsen married my parents in 1935 and baptized me and my brother Raymond. The many descendants of these first Granly families all feel a special joy and pride in our 5 acres of treasured Jackson County, Mississippi property.
PLEASE come visit us for our OPEN HOUSE, Sunday, August 16th, 2026.
Address: 5611 Mulberry Road north of Hurley, MS. Turn west off of Hwy 613 onto MulberryRd. 2nd driveway on the right.
Else Nygaard Martin
