Cemetery

The cemetery at Valley Grove shares the picturesque and pastoral setting, surrounding three sides of the stone church and extending along the south side of the white clapboard church.  Many of the memorial stones are Norwegian, with a number of names still familiar in the area today. Here is the family plot of the Veblen family, whose son was the internationally known economist Thorstein Veblen. A graduate of Carleton College, he wrote “The Theory of the Leisure Class” and coined the phrase “conspicuous consumption.” This is also the site of graves for the Kvi family, ancestors of former Minnesota state governor Al Quie.

Many other families continue to visit the graves of family members and ancestors, and burials still are held here, under the supervision of the Cemetery Board Officers. The Valley Grove Cemetery Association became the owner of the clapboard church in 1974, a year after the congregation had disbanded. In 2005 it granted a 50-year lease of the stone church to the Valley Grove Preservation Society (VGPS), which has the mission of maintaining both churches and assisting the Cemetery Board with the upkeep of the cemetery.

More information on the cemetery at Valley Grove can be found at the Valley Grove/Grace Cemetery website.