A Viking ship that crossed the Atlantic from the heart of North Dakota

Just minutes from downtown Fargo, across the river in the neighboring town of Moorhead, is one of the most amazing and moving places in the state: the Hjemkomst Center. Its name means "homecoming" in Norwegian, and its protagonist is an authentic Viking ship replica hand-built in a garage...by a high school teacher with an impossible dream.

Robert Asp spent years building this wooden boat in the 1970s. In 1982, his family -after his death- achieved the unthinkable: they crossed the Atlantic from Duluth (Minnesota) to Bergen (Norway) sailing like real Vikings. The original ship is on display inside the center, along with a story as human as it is heroic.

The site also houses a hand-carved Scandinavian wooden church, and exhibits on Nordic migration in this region of the country. It is not a tourist museum; it is a tribute to roots, to impossible dreams and to the link between culture and identity. Ideal for those who are looking for a story they did not expect to find on the map.