Friends of the Viking Ship

10/12/2026

On this Columbus Day, it is important to remember that long before 1492, Viking seafarers were already crossing the Atlantic and setting foot in North America.

Half a millennium before Christopher Columbus arrived, Norse explorers took daring risks and built settlements on American shores—a fascinating saga of risk, exploration, and lost history.

The Norse made it to Canada around the year 1000, and used it as a base to explore. The BBC has delved into the "lost history" of the first Europeans to cross the Atlantic.

10/11/2026

𝘝𝘪𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 at the World's Fair of 1893

10/11/2026

October 11, 1871
On this date, crew member Lars Ingebrigtsen Løkke (1871-1961) was born in the mining town of Røros (then Røraas) in Sør-Trøndelag, Norway. He grew up in Trondheim and went to sea at 17. Prior to joining 𝘝𝘪𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨's crew, Lars sailed to and from America on Norwegian coastal steamers. Løkke later emigrated to Canada, settling permanently in the coastal city of Victoria, British Columbia. Passing away at the age of 89, he holds the distinct honor of being the final surviving crew member of the historic 1893 expedition.

10/10/2026

𝘝𝘪𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 Facts & Figures: Viking ship construction begins with the keel. 𝘝𝘪𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨's keel is 56 feet long--so long that there wasn't an oak tree big enough in Norway to make it, so one was imported from Canada. The keel adds to the ship’s stability and helps the ship ride the waves without tipping. You could imagine this as the spine of the ship. The keel is attached to the curved end posts with rivets to make the bow and the stern.

10/10/2026

October 10, 1893
𝘝𝘪𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 may have been called quaint, but she could indeed sail faster than modern craft at the time. Before arriving in New York, Captain Andersen had impromptu races with yachts along the coast and could beat them handily (albeit while equipped with additional sails beyond the one main square sail).

10/09/2026

Happy Leif Erikson Day! Although championed by Scandinavian-Americans for many decades, it wasn't until 1964 that the U.S. Government recognized the explorations of Leif Erikson and designated October 9th as Leif Erikson Day. Although the exact date of his arrival in North America around 1,000 A.D. remains unknown, October 9 was chosen to honor another milestone: the arrival of the ship 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 in New York Harbor on October 9, 1825, which marked the official beginning of organized Norwegian migration to the United States.

10/08/2026

This is it! Saturday, October 17, and Sunday, October 18, will be our final public Open Days of the season. Bring the family to Good Templar Park to see the world-famous 1893 World's Fair Viking Ship up close and hear the incredible story of the 12 brave men who sailed her across the Atlantic!
• ⏰ When: Oct 17 & 18 | 10:00 AM – 4:30 PM (Last tour at 3:45 PM)
• 👉 Where: Good Templar Park, 528 East Side Drive, Geneva, IL
• 🎟️ Admission: Adults $7, Teens $4, Kids 12 & under are FREE! (Pay at the door)
No reservations needed—tours depart every 15 minutes. Don't wait until 2027 to see the ship and hear her story!

Check out the latest community post from one of your neighbors. (The views expressed in this post are the author’s own.)

10/07/2026

While at the World's Fair, 𝘝𝘪𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 was moored in the North Inlet, next to the battleship 𝘐𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴. Ironically, 𝘐𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴 wasn't a ship at all, but rather a full-scale replica made largely of bricks, cement and wood framing, sitting on a foundation of pilings and heavy timbers. A real battleship would have been in violation of a treaty we had with Great Britain at the time, which forbade warships from operating on the Great Lakes. Apparently Viking ships were exempt from the treaty.

10/05/2026

Our 𝘝𝘪𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 is featured as one of the last surviving relics of the Columbian Exposition in WTTW's "What Remains of the White City? Where to Find 1893 World’s Fair History in and Around Chicago"

Though the White City is long gone, and the land it once occupied has been reshaped, remnants of the fair still linger in Chicago and beyond – if you know where to look.

10/04/2026

𝘝𝘪𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 at the Fair