St Peter and St Paul Russian Orthodox Church Bramble Minnesota Exploring Northern Minnesota Borderland

St. Peter and St. Paul Russian Orthodox Church

St. Peter and St. Paul Russian Orthodox Church

Bramble, Minnesota

National Register of Historic Places Site

Blog Post by Mary Katherine May of QualityMusicandBooks.com.

This past weekend we went to the Blueberry Festival in Ely with family that was visiting our new home in Littlefork, Minnesota. On the way back I suggested stopping at St. Peter and St. Paul Russian Orthodox Church built in what had been a township called Bramble on Minnesota State Hwy. 65 in Koochiching County.

Minnesota 65 in the northern borderland is a long, sparsely populated road. Using Google Maps for directions by entering 47°54′23″N 93°10′00″W worked for us. Just don't be surprised when Google says you are on Industrial Avenue because you will wonder if your'e in the right place. 

Minnesota State Hwy. 65, Koochiching County

If traveling from the town of Littlefork it will take about an hour to drive going the speed limit including slowing down for all of the tight curves, and about 90 minutes to 2 hours if driving sight-seeing speed. 

Hey! You can hook up with Minnesota 65 in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota and drive all the way to Littlefork, Minnesota, 272 miles!

Photograph by Mary Katherine May

Interested in Seeing This Landmark?

Watch for the gold onion dome typically found atop Eastern Orthodox Churches.  If it's a sunny day the dome will shine brightly ahead of you. 

Another feature to notice is that the back of the church where the altar is located correctly faces east as customary for Orthodox Christians as priest and congregants celebrated Divine Liturgy.

The church is locked and can be seen from the outside only without making prior arrangement and depending upon availability of those who hold keys.

St. Peter & St. Paul Russian Orthodox Church
Preservation Project

What is so amazing, maybe even miraculous, is how the church was literally discovered in a state of disrepair by Rev. Paul Berg of the Episcopal denomination as he drove along MN-65 on his way to go canoeing. 

He was the instigator of a multi-denomination restoration effort, and now Sts. Peter and Paul Russian Orthodox Church is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Paul Berg is buried in the church's cemetery.

I feel a relationship to this sacred spot, the church and the families who worked to create a house of God for the purpose of worship, to fellowship together, baptize, marry, and bury their loved ones.  

Not that much farther north in a place named Plankey Plains in Manitoba, my family did the same.

Directions provided for families
searched for their ancestral heritage.

Where is the cemetery?

There has to be a cemetery in which to bury the parishoners.  One of the explorers in our group found the information on the Find a Grave website and a second trip quickly followed the first. 

The cemetery is kept up by the families of the church, I am sure. Newer grave markers have replaced many of the wooden crosses that are decaying or now gone. 

Colorful flowers are present and along with graves of those long in Heaven for eternity are found descendants of the original pioneers of Koochiching County.

Directions were vague but we found it and now can amplify for clarity. The cemetery is a little over a quarter of a mile north of the church on U.T. Road 385. The two letters mean Unorganized Township, a State of Minnesota road designation. Coordinates: 47°54'50.0"N 93°09'48.9"W

Surnames include Dominik, Woitel, Soroka, Sorokie, Billy, Danyluk, Lucachick, Kuryla, Baron, Poster, Diachok, Nelson and Grula.

In the Eastern Orthodox Christian manner before leaving the cemetery I prayed the Lord's Prayer in the Ukrainian and English languages. Vichna pamyat. Memory eternal.

Sts. Peter and Paul Cemetery
Koochiching County, Minnesota

More Information & Links
LINK to Wikipedia article
LINK to article on Ghosts of Minnesota: Abandoned Places and Roadside Attractions
LINK to OrthodoxWiki article
A 16mm film, The Bramble Experience, was produced by Al Milgrom of the University of Minnesota Film Society. Current whereabouts of the film and availability for viewing are unknown.