LeDuc Historic Estate in Hastings hosts high teas, scotch tastings

Amy Deaver is a big proponent of resisting the urge to hurry.

The new site manager at the LeDuc Historic Estate in Hastings, who calls herself "a little bit of a Luddite," said she feels historic sites can provide an enclave where people slow down. They can be places to learn about picking wildflowers for tea, hunting for mushrooms, or listening to Scottish poetry.

"If we do a good job, we have an opportunity, not to just teach history," she said. "We have an opportunity to sort of recreate a life philosophy."

Since taking over at LeDuc in January 2014, Deaver's been anything but slow in orchestrating events. She's organized scotch tastings and high teas, a music and author series, and an educational series on spices.

"Everybody that walks in this door has some reason they want to connect with this place," Deaver said. "All we have to do is listen, and these ideas come floating in the door."

For example, the site's volunteer gardeners suggested hosting a rhubarb festival, so they held one last spring, with activities like rhubarb dyeing and baking rhubarb bread over a fire.

The scotch tastings started with a trial tasting with re-enactors and volunteers, and some volunteers showed up in full Scottish regalia, toting instruments to perform Scottish songs.

During the second public scotch tasting in January, a Burns Night celebration, LeDuc educator Andrew Fox did a dramatic reading of "Address to a Haggis"and the crowd sang "Auld Lang Syne," both written by 18th-century Scottish poet Robert Burns.

"If we can have fun and teach a little history, we're doing our job," she said.

Deaver said they have gotten positive feedback and are planning a Father's Day scotch tasting for a bigger crowd — the parlor only holds about 40 — on the lawn under a tent.

Last year, Deaver launched a Third Sundays series, which features musicians and authors.

In the spring, piano player Butch Thompson, who once led the "A Prairie Home Companion" house band, agreed to play at the estate but only on a real piano. Volunteers hauled in an old piano from one of the outbuildings to the house, sanded it down, painted it flat black and got it tuned.

The teas require a good number of volunteers, and Christine Nordin, of Hastings, just started in a new role as the volunteer coordinator. Nordin, who works as an interpreter at Fort Snelling and who worked at the LeDuc house when it first opened, said she's excited about Deaver.

"That's one of the reasons I want to come back now, because she's got some really cool ideas," Nordin said. "I like the fact that the house is being used for lots of things."