| Nerstrand-Big Woods State Park | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Nerstrand-Big Woods State Park is a botanical reserve for the temperate hardwood forest that once covered much of central Minnesota | |
  Location of Nerstrand-Big Woods State Park in Minnesota  Nerstrand-Big Woods State Park (the United States) | |
| Location | Rice County, Minnesota, United States |
| Coordinates | 44°20′42″N 93°6′26″W / 44.34500°N 93.10722°W |
| Area | 2,882 acres (11.66 km2) |
| Elevation | 1,086 ft (331 m)[1] |
| Established | 1945 |
| Governing body | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources |
Nerstrand-Big Woods State Park is a state park of Minnesota, US, northeast of Faribault just outside the small town of Nerstrand. The park derives its name from the Big Woods, a large, contiguous forested area covering much of southeast Minnesota prior to the 1840s, when European settlers began to establish farms in the territory,[2] and from Nedstrand in Tysvær, Norway,[3] of which Nerstrand is a namesake. The park and its forest were an outlying 'woods' typical of and similar to the Big Woods proper, which were historically found on the more recent glacier deposits located west of the Cannon River 10 miles (16 km) to the west. Aside from a small waterfall, the outstanding natural feature of the park is the forest itself.
- ^ "Nerstrand Big Woods State Park". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. January 1, 2000. Retrieved February 25, 2011.
- ^ DNR Forestry, All About Minnesota's Forests and Trees: A Primer; page 21. https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/forestry/education/primer/index.html
- ^ Britta Bloomberg, Minnesota Historic Properties Inventory Form, February 1981; copy accessed from Osmund Osmundson House file, State Historic Preservation Office in the Minnesota History Center.