Squabbits

Hi, I'm Bekki, and I'm the Filed Trip Programs Manager here at The Bakken.

At the request of the original homeowner, William Goodfellow, all the wood carvings and painted glass you see in this room depicts flora and fauna native to Minnesota. Goodfellow actually sent a list of native species to the Italian artists he had hired.

Can you identify the creatures up in the corners of the pediment above the door? Note their ears and tail. I affectionately call them squabbits - a cross between a squirrel and a rabbit. It seems that because of the milder climate, gray squirrels in Italy have longer ears than their Minnesota counterparts.