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History of the Karen Blixen Coffee Garden & Cottages

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History of the Karen Blixen Coffee Garden & Cottages HISTORY OF THE KAREN BLIXEN COFFEE GARDEN & COTTAGES LTD. BY DR. BONNIE DUNBAR The Historic Swedo House was built around 1908 by the Swedo-African Coffee Company. Dr. Dunbar purchased the property and re- stored the old house in 1999. The Historic Swedo-House is a typical example of the architecture that existed during the pio- neering days of Kenya. It was built raised on stilts (still in place today with re-enforcement) which were to protect the building from water and termite damage. From “Letters From Africa The house was smaller than it is today, and consisted of 3 rooms and a veranda with a kitchen some yards away. It had corrugated iron walls lined with wood inside and a railed veranda and arched roof . In later years the walls outside “Swedo House” were “modernized” by removing the corrugated iron and replacing it with cement plastered over chicken wire. Inside the walls were paneled with Hessian which was painted with a thin layer of cement and finally white washed. The “prefabricated” slotted wood walls were imported from Europe sometime before the 1920s.The original colored lead windows remain intact today as they are shown with the original settlers. Anecdotal information from a neighbor (Mr. Russel) in Ka- ren is that his father built his house in 1908 and he knew that the Swedo house was two years older. (That house is no longer standing) It is told that United States President Theodore Roosevelt who was hosted by Sir Northrup McMillan hunted out of the Swedo House dur- ing his famous visit to Kenya in 1908 to collect specimens for the National Museums in Ameri- ca. At that time it was surrounded by dense thorny bush vegetation and was a popular hunting lodge for international dignitaries. He also documented the incredible cultures of the local people. The Swedo African Coffee Company was formed by Ake Sogren (the Swedish Consul in British East Africa, below) and Sir Northrup McMillan around 1911. Nils Fjastad, Farm Manager 1913-1916 These settlers visited the area on a hunting safari and decided to buy a large tract of land (about 4000 acres) from the Government. This land consisted of indige- nous forest, bush and grasslands with abundant wild- life. Their goal was to develop the land for agricultural purposes, with a major interest in coffee production. FROM: Isak Dinesen, Letters from Africa (Frans Lasson, Ed. For Rungstedlund Foundation) KAREN BLIXEN’S LOVE OF ADVENTURE WAS STIMULATED BY HER FATHER, WILLIAM DINESEN It must have become apparent that the environment (altitude and soil) were not optimal for coffee growing on this side of Nairobi. (a reason why to this date there are no coffee plantations remaining around Karen). However, this did not stop the sale of the property to Baron Von Blixen in De- cember of 1913, just prior to his wedding to Karen Dinesen (Blixen). The funds for this farm were Karens’, who had planned on purchasing a dairy farm. At that time, the Swedo House was the only house on the property and became the farm manager’s house from which the future coffee plantation would be run. The Mbogani House (today’s Karen Blixen Museum was commissioned from this house in 1916 and Karen Blixen and family & friends spent much time here. In January, 1914, Karen Dinesen arrived at the port of Mombasa after a month long journey where she was married on the same day to Bror Blixen. But the story of Karen’s longing for trav- el started long before through the jour- neys of her father, William Dinesen. • SUMMARY OF WILLIAM DINESEN’S EXPOLITS IN AMERICA 1872*-1874 (From R.B. Vowles “Scandanavian Studies 1976, vol. 48(4):369-384”) • Soldier of fortune in two European wars on losing side th • Love of his life (his cousin, Agnes) died of typhus just before her 20 birthday • 1872 (age 27) sailed from Copenhagen to Quebec (Canada) and traveled through Chicago by train to Columbus Nebraska. Here he hunted with both the Pawnee and Sioux Indians who were at war with each other • 1873 -Joined Danish community in Chicago where continued hunting for traders • 1873-Moved to Wisconsin to join Dr. Christen Linde-Frienreich, (legendary pioneer physician who studied malaria on Wisconsin lakes) WILLIAM DINESEN (Cont.) • 1873 –Bought cabin near Wolf River which he named Frydenlund” (meaning ‘grove of joy’). Photo right. (William later wrote “he who seeks peace in the world cannot do better than to set up his domicile in the Wisconsin woods”. (Reportedly he had a daughter with a native American woman) • 1874 – returned to Denmark to nurse his dying mother • 1881- married Karen Blixen’s mother (Ingeborg Westenholz). Karen was born in 1895. • 1887 – Returned to the United States for a hunting and fishing trip • 1895 – Committed suicide in Denmark (thought to be due to his illness, Syphi- lis) R. VOULES……... “What would persuade “a Danish gentleman” to endure the austerities of pioneer life in America? “Perhaps Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen) herself supplies the answer in her story “Copenhagen Season” which fictionalizes the relationship between (her father) William and (his first love) Agnus. She wrote: “You know that we are none of us soft-skinned, and poverty to us holds nothing at all frightening. We have been drawn to the world of splendor---irresistibly like moths to the flame---not because it was rich, but because its riches were boundless. The quali- ty of boundlessness in any sphere would have drawn us in the same manner.” Karen Blixen has been referred to as William’s favorite (of five) chil- dren). AS R. VOULES FURTHER DISCUSSES: “but he (William) was never able or willing to put America entirely out of mind. Indeed, already in 1876, under the name of Pit a Lechiro, he published “Miska, a Story from the Forest Primeval”. Fictionally he was back in upper Wolf River country and he was reunited with his Indian friends. And senses from America flashed fitfully across the panorama of his hunting letters, whatever he might be at the time. “But, above all, he implanted in a talented daughter a wanderlust, a resilience, a curiosity about all things, and a very special dignity, in the bare ten years that they had together”. KAREN BLIXEN AND THE COFFEE PLANTATION In 1912, Ake Sjogren commissioned the building of a large stone house on the Swedo- African Coffee Estate. This style was the second generation of colonialist house con- struction. This is now the famous house bought by Karen Blixen in 1916 named “Bogani” by her. It was from her life on the coffee plantation that the movie “Out of Af- rica” was inspired. This house is located about 1 mile from the farm manager’s house (Swedo House) and is now the “Karen Blixen Museum” Karen Blixen’s life on the coffee farm with her favorite horse, Rouge, and her dogs (Dusk and Pania) (Photos from “Letters from Africa”,, Ed. F. Lasson) Nils Fjastad occupied Swedo House as manager in 1913-1914 at the time the first World War was heating up. Anecdotal history is that many of the Swedish settlers met at the “Long Bar” at the old Stanley Hotel to decide on which side to fight. Because of their close ties with the British in Kenya, they chose to fight with the British. For this reason many of the men in- volved with the coffee plantation left Kenya. Both Bror Blixen and Bursell were drafted into Lord Delemere’s Intelligence Corps. Bursell and Blixen on Swedo House porch with Karen Over the years, until Karen Blixen left Kenya, the Swedo House was occupied by the Blixen plantation’s farm manag- ers and her brother Thomas Dinesen (with her in the photo) who came to Kenya to run the company after Karen’s family kicked Bror out of the company for mismanagement. It be- came the Farm Office as well as the Headquarters for the Ka- ren Coffee Growers’ Association. (Photo from “Letters from Africa, Frans Lasson, Ed.) FRIENDS OF KAREN BLIXEN’S ON THE COFFEE PLANTATION Ake Bursell stayed on as a manager for the Karen Coffee Company Ltd. for a short while. He later bought his own farm in Ruiru where he became a successful coffee farmer. Nils Fjastad also built a successful coffee business at Kiambu. (in photo with his wife, Ette and prominent pro- fessional hunter, Emil Holmmberg. (Photo from “Baron Blixen” by Ulf Aschan) W.H. Dickens was farm manager before Cal Sogaard C. 1929 Karen Blixen had many friends but few close women friends. Ingrid Lindstrom Bror Blixen recruited two of his best friends, Gillis and was one of her closest women friends. Ingrid Lindstrom from Sweden who arrived in Kenya When her daughter, Nina, had an appen- in 1919 with their four small children.When Bror Blix- dicitis attack Karen nursed her back to en was banned from the Karen Blixen coffee plantation health at her home outside of Nairobi by Karen’s family in Denmark, he would spend much time at their farm at Njoro. (Photo from :letters from Africa) Nina Linstrom (shown on the left of Bror Blixen) with her mother and sister, left Kenya when she was 24 but returned to the Swedo House for her 90th birthday in October 2005. (Photo courtesy of Nina Lin- strom). Deborah Dunbar, Bonnie’s cousin met Nina in the United States (they just happened to be neighbors) and brought her back to Kenya for her birthday. Nina Linstrom on safari at the Ngoro Ngoro Crater with Dr. Pete Morkel, Bonnie and Deb- orah Dunbar and guide Isaac.
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