Mrs. Alderson and Miss Catherine Hanson (right) cross country skiing. Note that they are using a single ski pole.

Cross country skiing in the early days of New Sweden was primarily a means of transportation rather than recreation. The Swedes of New Sweden introduced cross country to Aroostook County.

In 1922 Olof O. Nylander assembled a display of photographs, maps and charts of the Maine Swedish Colony which he displayed at the three hundredth anniversary of the founding of Gothenburg, Sweden. The series of display cards, or “samlats,” each featured several photographs of homes, businesses and community members from New Sweden, Woodland, Perham and Caribou.
This photograph is from samlat 6.