In the second episode of 200 Norwegians, we follow Cleng Peerson’s footsteps into the Midwest—into the very heart of his vision.
By Fredrik Kalstveit
“This is where the dream allegedly happened,” says Kirk Mies, his voice carrying over the rustling leaves.
Mies, a leading figure in the Slooper Society—an organization dedicated to the descendants of the first organized Norwegian mass migration to America—stands on storied ground. A small grove, a trickling spring, and behind us, the cemetery. The final resting place of many who took that fateful journey. Among them, Daniel and Birtha Rosdail, passengers on the Norwegian Mayflower of 1825.
Kirk strides up to an ancient oak tree, its roots knotted like old hands gripping the soil. Was this the tree? The one Cleng Peerson—Norway’s restless prophet, their wandering Moses—slept under when the vision struck? Maybe. Maybe not.
But the story goes like this: Cleng dreamed of a prairie bursting with golden crops, orchards sagging with fruit, cattle grazing in lush pastures. A land of abundance. A Promised Land.
By dawn, he was certain. He had to return to Kendall, New York, where the first Norwegian settlers waited, weary and uncertain. He would tell them what he had seen. Their future—no, their destiny—lay here, in the Midwest.
But here’s the thing about Cleng Peerson: it wasn’t the first time he had made such a promise.
First, he convinced his countrymen to sell everything—everything!—and board a ship bound for America. A brutal voyage. A world nothing like the one he described. They arrived in New York to hardship, disappointment, disaster. The dream of freedom came with a price—one that nearly broke them.
And yet, in this second episode of 200 Norwegians, the saga continues. You’ll hear how they struggled, how they were penalized, how they barely survived—until an unlikely savior stepped in. President John Quincy Adams himself. You’ll hear how they carved out a life in upstate New York, only for Cleng to set out again, searching for something better. (Spoiler: they found it.)
This episode is about long walks—hundreds of miles on foot, across an unforgiving land. It’s about two worlds colliding, the Old and the New, and what it really meant, two hundred years ago, to leave Norway behind forever.
200 Norwegians is a podcast series by Fredrik Kalstveit featuring 200 stories of Norwegians who have shaped American history over the last two centuries.
This biweekly podcast is made in conjunction with Vesterheim Museum, and with support from the Norway House Foundation in San Francisco.
Listen to episodes as they are released at the 200 Norwegian podcast website and on these podcast streaming apps:
Check Vesterheim’s blog every two weeks or subscribe on the apps to hear further episodes as we celebrate this anniversary year!
Fredrik Kalstveit is a freelance Norwegian journalist and photographer covering tech, culture, politics, and Norwegian Americans. He is based in San Francisco, California. He has written for many publications, including Aftenposten, A-magasinet, NRK in Norway, and Vesterheim Magazine. He is author of the book Norske cowboyer: En reise gjennom ville vesten (Norwegian cowboys: A journey through the wild west), published in Norwegian.