Tucked in an idyllic setting in Grafton, North Dakota is Elmwood House, whose beauty you simply have to see to believe. From the landscape surrounding it to the tiniest details inside, the elegance of the house is unexpectedly special.

Built in 1895 by North Dakota’s second Attorney General, C.A.M. Spencer, Elmwood exudes Late Victorian architecture, featuring intricately designed birdseye maple and oak woodwork, stained glass, and elaborate fireplaces that all add to its charm The showstopper, perhaps, is the stunning, one-of-a-kind carved staircase. Envision this home in the winter of the early 1900s. It would become absolutely magical at Christmas time, garland draped down the banisters, stockings hung in front of a warm, crackling fire, the glow of flickering candles, fresh-falling snow, and a pot of apple cider on a tray in the parlor, the scent lingering through the hallways. To say the house Spencer built was remarkable is simply an understatement.

By the time Luther and Mary Nancy Williamson purchased the home in 1945, it had changed hands a number of times over the years. In 1985, the Williamson’s, owners of one of the last independent milk companies in North Dakota, had the home listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Then and now, the beauty of Elmwood extends beyond its walls. The land itself is something out of a storybook. The Victorian mansion is surrounded by twenty acres in an oxbow of the Park River. On three acres sits the turn-of-the-century home. Seven acres are protected in the Natural Area Registry as an example of river bottom forest. And while the remaining acres are no longer considered a natural area, wild flowers, plants, and animal life abound. Today, meetings, weddings, small parties, and other special events are held at the mansion, thanks to many local volunteers who are dedicated to maintaining its history and charm. There is truly not another place like Elmwood in all of Walsh County.