The site was once the farmstead of Heman and Jane Gibbs, first built in 1854; the existing farmhouse includes the small, original cabin.

The objects in the farmhouse date from the mid-19th century on and are part of the Ramsey County Historical Society collection; those belonging to the Gibbs family are featured in the house tour.

[4] The museum focuses on the story of Jane Gibbs (née DeBow), who was taken at age six or seven from the neighbor's home where she was living due to her mother's severe illness near Batavia, NY in 1833 by the Stevens, a missionary family[citation needed] as a replacement for the daughter, their oldest, whom they had lost to illness.

Once the mission was built on the shores of Lake Harriet about a mile from the village of Cloud Man, Jane attended the missionary school with the part Dakotah children of the soldiers stationed at Fort Snelling and traders and learned to speak their language.

She developed a close relationship with the Dakotah and was given the name "Zitkadan Usawin" (Little Crow that was Caught) by the women of the village, who were moved by the story of her departure from her mother.

One day in the fall, they found some of the same Dakotah who Jane had grown up with used the trail on their annual migration north to their wild ricing, hunting and fishing grounds in present-day Forest Lake, Minnesota.

Each year during the fall, the Dakotah band would set up camp at the Gibbs farm for up to three weeks to visit with Jane and her family before continuing their journey.

A replica built from the architectural investigation now stands in the prairie, and the site of the original soddy is preserved in an enclosed space.

It stayed a one-room house for 13 years, providing shelter for the five Gibbs children: Ida (adopted), Abbie, William, Frank, and Lillie.