The Memorial celebrates the first arrival in 1834 of a pioneering band of farm-seekers led by the peripatetic ethnic leader Cleng Peerson . Peerson 's vessel , the '' Restauration '' , is often credited with bringing the first group of immigrants from Norway to Kendall , New York in 1825 . Scandinavian farm life had been devastated in 1816 by the Year Without a Summer , and younger sons and daughters from farm families in Norway were looking for new opportunities . During the 1840s , the Fox River Settlement frequently became a stopping-off point for Norwegian immigrants who entered America . The Memorial was dedicated in 1934 to commemorate the initial arrival in the Fox River Valley of the group led by Cleng Peerson . At the time the Memorial was dedicated , many of the descendants of the Peerson party were still working the land their ancestors had taken up in 1834 . Today the Memorial is an un-staffed historic site of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency
Year Without a Summer
Year Without a Summer
Norwegian Settlers Memorial