The Wadena County Historical Society is offering an archaeological tour of the Shell City site Saturday, May 8, from 1-3 p.m.

Join Archaeologist Amanda Gronhovd of 10,000 Lakes Archaeology, Inc. and Shell City historian John Crandall for a tour of the site located in northern Wadena County.

Shell City was a thriving community on the Shell River in the late 1870s and through the 1880s serving the wheat farmers on the Shell Prairies. It had shops, blacksmiths, hotels, a saw mill, a school and a fledgling navigation company set to ship wheat down the Crow Wing River.

The guides will walk through the streets of the long abandoned town sites and relate the stories of those days. The archaeologist will explain how one would approach the remaining foundations and home sites to understand the materials and artifacts that may some day be recovered.

It’s rare to find a town site this extensive that nothing has ever been built upon.

The group plans to start a bus from the Wadena County Historical Society’s museum located at 603 Jefferson St N in Wadena. Participants must pre-register for the bus by May 3, and there is a fee. The bus will also pickup pre-registered guests in Sebeka and Menahga.

If not enough people sign up for the bus, a car pool will be organized from the museum to the site and back. It’s also possible to reach the site on one’s own.

Refreshments will be served at the site.