Restoring A Family's Heritage -- Carnation Man Completes 18-Year Project To Rebuild Tattered Ancestral Farm House

Hercules took 12 years to complete his labors, but Roger Thorson still hasn't finished renovating his ancestral home in Carnation after 18 years of work.

Thorson says restoration of the turn-of-the-century Victorian house has been a "labor of love" to preserve his family's heritage, a task all the more meaningful after a trip to Norway last year.

Thorson's Hjertoos Farm is one of the stops on Sunday's King County Landmarks and Heritage Road Tour, which will open historic sites throughout the Snoqualmie Valley.

Thorson is the great-grandson of Andrew and Bergette Hjertoos, Norwegian immigrants who in 1901 bought the original 208-acre spread, once one of the largest dairy farms in the area. The wooden house was built in 1907.

Although the house always has been owned by the family, it was rented out from the late 1930s until Thorson bought it from family elders in 1975. When he and his then-wife moved into the house in 1977, it was all but falling down.

Now the major work is essentially done, including a new $28,000 roof on the massive barn, but Thorson still finds odds and ends that need fixing.

Sagging floors have been leveled, paint has been scraped and sanded off woodwork, and wallpaper has been stripped away. Today, the straight-grain Douglas fir moldings around doors and windows sparkle.

The spacious front porch had been dismantled and used for firewood by former tenants, but Thorson rebuilt it, guided by a 1907

photo.

Much of the structural renovation was done using old lumber Thorson found in the barn - knot-free two-by-fours, two-by-sixes and one-inch planks. An upstairs bathroom is outfitted with an antique claw-foot bathtub found in the back yard.

The 4,000-square-foot barn is filled with piles of "good stuff" - decades-old farm tools, machinery and household items that Thorson wants to sort and catalog, possibly for use in a small museum on his 24-acre Carnation Tree Farm.

Thorson spends much of his time on the tree farm he planted in 1978 as a source of income. He rents out the eight-room house and has set up housekeeping in a small area of the barn.

He has no idea what the renovation has cost. A $12,000 grant from the King County Landmarks Commission in the mid-1980s helped.

Although he undertook the task with his ancestors in mind, Thorson said a trip to southern Norway last year made him realize just how important his work was.

While visiting the small village of Kvinesdal Kirke, he happened upon a reunion of the Olmland family, his great-grandmother's clan.

"It was amazing. No one from the American end of the family had visited the town since the turn of the century. They were fantastic. . . . They hold everything of family and heritage dear," he said.

-- Roadside Attractions is an occasional feature of The Seattle Times Eastside edition. If you spot something on the Eastside you'd like to know more about, contact us via the addresses at the top of this page.

-- Louis T. Corsaletti's phone message number is 206-515-5626. His e-mail address is: lcor-new@seatimes.com

-------- The tour --------

The King County Landmarks and Heritage Tour is scheduled for 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday.

Maps of the self-guided tour are $10 and available at Historic Seattle offices, 605 First Ave., Seattle, or at tour sites Sunday. Tour sites are the Meadowbrook Farm between North Bend and Snoqualmie, Fall City Masonic Hall, Neighbors-Bennett House in Fall City, Hjertoos Farm and picnic area, and Dougherty Farmstead in Duvall.

For more information, call Historic Seattle, 206-622-6952.