The Xcel Energy Foundation announced a grant award to the Sherburne County Historical Society for interpretive panels along the Sherburne History Center Legacy Trail.

This grant project is to replace six faded panels and update the two Herbert M. Fox House interpretive panels to match the other panels along the Sherburne History Center Legacy Trail.

The Xcel Energy Foundation award will also add three new interpretive panels to help visitors better understand the history of the native plant communities, wildlife, and flowering plants of the Oak Savanna Park and prairie in Sherburne County, Minnesota. This project is in cooperation with the Sherburne County Parks Department which will research, write, edit text and research images for three new interpretive panel signs and install the six replacement panels, Fox House panels and three new posts and panels.

The Sherburne History Center Legacy Trail provides outdoor recreation and educational opportunities in the natural landscape. The SCHS trail links to the county’s trail system in the 140-acre Oak Savanna Sherburne County Park to the north and to the City of Becker’s bike trail system entering from the southern edge of the park. It provides visitors with the opportunity to experience the county’s environment as it was before the county began to grow so fast.

The Sherburne History Center is located at 10775 27th Avenue SE, Becker, MN 55308 and specializes in the history of Sherburne County through museum exhibitions, a reference library, an archives and a Legacy Trail with historic structures. It is open Tuesday - Friday: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Saturday: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. The Sherburne History Center is also currently showing the award-winning exhibition: Life on the Edge. For more information contact the Sherburne History Center at www.sherburnehistorycenter.org or (763) 261-4433.