Expert Tours
This summer we are offering tours with three Neubergthal experts, life-long resident Ray Hamm, the artist and resident Margruite Krahn, and Neubergthal Heritage Foundation board member Shaun Friesen. Below you can learn more about each expert tour guide, and book a tour for one of their available dates. Guests MUST book ahead and receive confirmation of their tour date and time.
Expert tours are $20 per person. 12 and under are free.
Margruite Krahn at the Herdsman House
Margruite Krahn
Margruite, her husband Paul, and their young family at the time, moved to Neubergthal in 1998 with the intention of turning a 1928 barn into their home, and art studio. In 2001 Margruite got involved with the Neubergthal Heritage Foundation and over the next 12 years oversaw the restoration of the Friesen Housebarn Interpretive Centre, H.F. Hamm house (picnic shelter), and stabilization of the Klippenstein house ( Neubergthal Commons). Her hands-on involvement with building restoration led to her ongoing research and documentation, and restoration of the hand painted floor patterns created by the Mennonite women in their living spaces. Margruite and Paul restored and renovated the village herdsman house which is on their property. The Herdsman House is unique as it is the only remaining house of its kind still standing on the Canadian Prairies and possibly North America. Since 2015 it has operated as an artist residence and guest house.
A tour with Margruite includes the Herdsman House (based on availability), art studio and loft of the Krahn Barn, Friesen Housebarn, and the sports exhibition-Neubergthal at Play, in the village school.
Shaun Friesen
Shaun Friesen
The Gretna, Altona area has been home for most of my life. I have always had a love of story and history, yet it wasn’t until my 50’s that a passion for the history of my family and my Mennonite roots emerged.
In 1874 my great grandparents were some of the first migrants from the Bergthal Colony, in south Russia, to arrive on the East Reserve, south of Niverville. Their story, my history, is one of tremendous hardship, loss, and resilience. The spring of 1881 found them carving a homestead out of the treeless prairie south east of the village of Neubergthal. The history, and stories of Neubergthal and the surrounding area, weave a rich tapestry that enables us to better understand and appreciate the unique culture, and contributions of Mennonites to the story of the settlement of Manitoba and the Canadian prairies.
I invite you to join me for a tour of Neuberthal. Experience the uniqueness of this place, its single street, majestic cottonwood trees, housebarns, and the stories that connect us to this land, and sustain our heritage moving forward.
Ray Hamm
I grew up in Neubergthal. Marilyn, my wife, and I are living in the housebarn where I grew up; it was built by my great grandparents, Bernhard and Helena (Hamm (Penner)) Klippenstein. and the family, including the four Hamm stepsons. My grandpa was 12 when the family came to Canada. The Hamm heritage housebarn and its stories date back to 1876, with many of its characteristics and features intact. Apparently our barn is one of the two original buildings still standing in the village. These stories have been carried and cared for by the Hamm family to the present day.
My own childhood included attending the village school, the village church, and the village store. Years before the Neubergthal Heritage Foundation was created, my parents hosted tour busses and guests on our yard.
There have been many years of connection with Parks Canada and involvement with Neubergthal Heritage Foundation; in the beginning years I was the “Neubergthal Heritage Foundation” (NHF) and more recently the coordinator/administrator; NHF has grown, and is now a registered charity with regular board meetings and some part-time staff.
Tours include the NHF buildings - Commons Barn, the Bergthal School (including sports exhibit), the HF Hamm house, the Friesen Housebarn (and our house by special arrangement). Stories include village history, Mennonite history, some Anishinabe stories, and Canadian/Manitoba history- - - English, Low German or High German.