Grandma Patrick and the circus people

I’ve written about my Grandma Patrick’s place of birth before, but I only today learned about the owners of the inn during the time her parents worked there.

Rold Gammel Kro is a 3-star inn in the north of Denmark’s Jutland area. It is one of the oldest inns in Denmark, according to a website I happened upon today and a letter from my father’s cousin suggests the business could have been started as far back as the 1100s.

What I found so interesting is that, also according to the geocaching website in the paragraph above, a circus troupe stopped by the inn one year and asked for accommodations, but the owner would not let them stay, so the circus owner, Heinrich Miehe, went around and paid the debts of the inn’s owner and ended up owning the Rold Kro Inn the next year. It was Heinrich Miehe that my great-grandfather,  Christ Nielsen, worked for. Christ and his wife, Anne Marie were the innkeepers while the Miehes were on the road with their circus. Heinrich decided to stay and look after the inn in 1902. I wonder if that is why my grandma’s family decided to emigrate to the US. Or maybe he decided to take over the innkeeping duties because his employees were leaving.

Apparently, there is a circus museum near the inn that was part of the Miehe Circus winter training site.

According to the letter mentioned above, my grandmother’s sister, Antonie, mentioned the Miehe Circus. I’d never heard about until today. I wonder if Grandma Patrick told me about it and I just don’t remember.

Sources:

3 thoughts on “Grandma Patrick and the circus people

  1. How cool! Have you been to the inn? I kinda wish I’d known about it a few months ago. I might have arranged my travels differently. Because it’s a great story.

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