Day Two

I knew our second day was starting better than the first when, instead reaching an icy mire as we approached the first site, we saw a sign professing a settlement established 175 years ago and, from even farther away, a lit up cross in the sky. We had successfully reached Marker #85, The Oldest Lutheran Church in Wisconsin, Trinity Freistadt.

This was not an altogether unfamiliar location.  Growing up, my small Lutheran school played Trinity's grade school (which is in a building right behind the church) in sports quite frequently.  In particular, I remember the basketball tournaments played here.  I wasn't even particularly athletic, but for some reason back then the basketball tournament weekends were the most important weekends in the year.  Specifically in regard to Trinity's basketball tournament, I remember my mom and I getting lost on a Thursday night trying to get here for one of my brother's games, and knowing we had found it when we saw that glowing cross on top.  That's really what has stuck with me through the years, that lit-up cross telling us we had found the right place.  

We left Trinity and went into Mequon/Thiensville to see two more markers that were right by each other.

We actually stumbled upon a historical riverwalk marker first, erected by Mequon-Thiensville.  I won't upload the picture here because it's hard to see with the light, but it's definitely an interesting bit of local history I plan to check out when I have a chance.

Just down from the riverwalk marker was Marker #379, Historic Thiensville.

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I found it interesting that so close to the oldest Lutheran church and a settlement that had founded in order to freely practice religion was a settlement founded against religion.  Thiensville, located in the City of Mequon, isn't particularly a hotbed of anti-religion zealots, and it was surprising to learn about its founder's intentions.

Right across the street from this sign was Marker #331, Wisconsin's German Settlers.

This sits right across the street from the Thiensville marker.  Related to Marker 85 (earlier in this post), it tells of the first German settlements in Wisconsin, Freistadt specifically.  

Day One

I was as excited as ever to begin.  We were only planning on visiting the two in West Bend, but even so it was great to start the journey.  However, things didn't happen exactly as we planned.

We planned to visit Marker #17 first, Lizard Mound State Park.  Upon arriving, we found this.

The driveway into the park was totally covered in ice, and a sign posted said the park was closed for the season.  While it wouldn't be too hard to come back in a few months, this picture shows another problem too:  the sun was already going down.

The thing is, this wasn't even the first unplanned thing we encountered on our first day of attempting to visit markers.  As we drove to Lizard Mound Park, which is on the edge of town, we passed a marker that wasn't even on the list!

It was great to find a marker that wasn't even on the list to make up for the one we weren't able to access.  It said on the marker that it was erected in 2013, so I guess it will be added soon.  This marker represents an interesting part of West Bend--namely, one of the reasons Ripley's Believe it or Not claims that West Bend is the one city that never entered the Great Depression.  Companies like the West Bend Company kept people employed and helped to keep things going, even in those troubled times.  Incidentally, there is also a museum in West Bend dedicated to the West Bend Company, specifically the cookware that was created by them.  It's small but worth a visit, and it shares a building with a credit union (when you walk through the doors, go left for the museum, right for the credit union).  I don't know why they share a building, but it makes me laugh every time I think of it.

Although it was getting darker and darker by the minute, we drove across town to visit Marker #248, the Great Divide.

The Plan

I am going to visit all of the Wisconsin Historical Markers.

That seems like a strange plan for an average eighteen-year old girl to decide to undertake, so I suppose I might as well provide some background as to why I am going to do this.  It started with the harsh winter.  I don't know how many times I heard people professing their dislike of the state and stating plans to move to a warmer climate in a few years.  Although I'm not a fan of the absurd cold weather we had, I disagreed with what they were saying because I unabashedly love the state of Wisconsin.  There are a lot of reasons to love Wisconsin--the communities, the foods, the sports teams--the list could continue.  I came upon the Wisconsin Historical Markers in trying to explain my love of the state and its truly unique character.  Whether the markers represent places and events that were positive or negative, significant or insignificant, they all share the commonality of being a story that someone at some point thought was worth sharing because it contributed to the overall picture of the history and culture of Wisconsin.

I am visiting the markers with my father.  I officially began this journey a few weeks ago, while I was on Spring Break.