Ard Godfrey House, Minneapolis

In a snug pocket of green amid a rising sea of condos, just across the river from downtown Minneapolis, you’ll find a surprising slice of history: the Ard Godfrey House, the city’s oldest surviving wood-frame house. Built in 1848 by millwright Ard Godfrey (using the very first lumber sawed at the Saint Anthony Falls mill he oversaw), this charming yellow house originally stood a couple of blocks closer to the river. Nowadays, it’s kept up as a museum by the Women’s Club of Minneapolis, welcoming visitors in the summer and during the holidays.

Step inside the cozy 1.5-story home, decked out with period furnishings and historical photos, and you’ll learn a peculiar tidbit: Minnesota gardeners can thank Ard’s wife, Harriet, for introducing the now-ubiquitous dandelion. Missing her beloved dandelion bread, tea, and wine, she had seeds shipped in from Maine, forever altering local lawns.

The house sits in Chute Square, a park that boasts another historical claim to fame: it was the original site of the University of Minnesota back in 1851, before the university packed up and moved a few miles east.