Arnolds Park, Iowa (NorthwestIowaNow.com) — History isn’t just in the textbooks, as the graduating class of 2026 at Graettinger-Terril learned seven years ago on a simple fifth grade field trip to the Abbie Gardner Cabin in Arnolds Park.

 

Graettinger-Terril Science teacher Shayla Hunefeld was leading her students past a low metal fence they thought was a cabin foundation. Their tour guide that day corrected them that the location they were talking about was the mass grave for victims in the 1857 Spirit Lake Massacre.

Hunefeld says that fustration sparked a mission for those then-fifth grade students. They launched a research project and dug through historical documents to verify the names of 17 settlers, including 11 children, and raised over $1000 through bake sales to ensure those names were finally etched in stone.

Today the students are getting ready to graduate in a couple weeks, and Hunefeld brought them back to the Cabin site, and stood in front of the monument they championed. After 126 years, the mass grave is marked thanks to this group.

Mrs. Hunefeld and her students shared a moment looking at their work, and took one last picture together to preserve their legacy.