All posts by Dona

Up North: The Series::Two Rivers::The End

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City of Two Rivers
City of Two Rivers

A little over two and a half years ago I began my Wisconsin Series of blog posts with a small post about Two Rivers, Wisconsin, the hometown of my Grandma Green. In that post I declared my plan to someday visit Two Rivers. Last September I finally did visit Two Rivers and it is fitting that I end my series with a post about that visit.

We drove from Elgin via Madison where we dropped off my son’s friend’s bike and guitar at his dorm at UW-Madison. I hoped to visit with a distant cousin with whom I’ve gotten close to via e-mail, but we wanted to get to Two Rivers and do some sight-seeing before dark. After Madison we stopped at Horicon National Wildlife Refuge — a place I’d heard about from a couple of birding blogs I follow. It did not disappoint — but I’ll talk about that in a different post.

The town of Two Rivers, on the shore of Lake Michigan just south of Door County, was settled by Germans, Norwegians, British, Irish, and French Canadians. Early industries were fishing and lumber. I think ships may also have been built there. Many other ships were shipwrecked off the coast. My Two Rivers ancestors were mainly German and I know that some were fishermen and some others worked in sawmills. Some might also have been farmers.

We entered Two Rivers through the much larger city of Manitowoc where we were going to have to find a place to stay because I waited too long to find somewhere in Two Rivers. To say I was excited about this leg of the journey is an understatement. I was buzzing. I was delirious. I was about to see the town where my grandmother grew up and where she and my grandfather met (The story about my grandparent’s meeting goes something like this: My grandfather was a traveling salesman — he sold thread for a company in Elgin — and was in Two Rivers on a sales trip. He took a date to a dance –maybe at the Washington House? My grandmother also went to that dance with a date. My grandparents met at the dance and left together. Their dates left together too. And the rest is history. ).

It was a foggy day, so the drive up Memorial Drive, along the shore of Lake Michigan, was not exactly scenic. I’d read online that this was the weekend of the annual Kites over Lake Michigan festival and wondered how the festival was faring in the mist.

The first thing I wanted to do in town was visit the museum to see if there was any mention of the Koeser family. Using my phone’s navigation application and the website for Two Rivers, we were able to find “The Washington House” which housed the historical museum as well as the replica of the ice cream parlor that apparently invented the ice cream sundae. We found no mention of the Koeser family at the museum, but I did speak to two friendly docents who were able to tell me where the house in which my great-great grandparents lived was located. The back of the photo I borrowed stole from my mom mentioned “The Mexico House” which I’d already discovered was a tavern. The women assured me that it was still standing, although the name was changed. They thought the house was still standing as well, so I was excited to head over there right away.

It took a bit of driving around to find the street, but eventually we found a seedy looking building with a name that Dean thought sounded like a strip club. I sort of wanted to go inside, but Dean was wise to discourage me. It was really a dive. We parked and walked up and down the streets trying to find the house in the photo and then I remembered the description of the back of the photo which claimed the house was “two doors west of The Mexico House”. We walked back to the seedy bar and saw that two doors west of it was part of the concrete parking lot for the bar. Ok, progress. The house would have been pretty old anyway — and judging by some of the other homes in the area, might have been in disrepair.

Seedy bar formally known as The Mexico House
Seedy bar in Two Rivers formally known as The Mexico House

After that minor disappointment we thought a walk in a cemetery would be fun on this misty day. Somehow I had it in my head that my ancestors were buried in the Pioneer’s Rest Cemetery so we headed there. I was not as prepared as I should have been because I was unable to find any names I recognized. Months later I did find a website that told where everyone was buried. I was in the correct cemetery but wrong part of it. I could have walked around there much longer, but Dean was getting antsy and it was beginning to sprinkle. I snapped a few shots of some interesting headstones and we left.

Dean wanted to visit the Kites over Michigan festival so we headed towards the lake again and easily found Neshotah Beach. Now this was fun! It was damp and foggy and there was little wind, but a beach filled with colorful and whimsical kites is always fun. We walked around for a while and watched a synchronized kite show, then headed back to Manitowoc to find a place to rest our heads for the night.

The next morning we visited the Wisconsin Maritime Museum which was located across the street from our hotel. We took a tour of the submarine which, while entertaining and interesting, was long. I tend to have minor claustrophobia so I kept to the end of the line so I could make my escape quickly if I needed to.

Inside the submarine

The day was lovely and sunny so we headed over to the Kites over Lake Michigan festival again and watched more kite action while enjoying cheese curds and brats.

Dragon Kite
Dragon Kite

On the final trek out of town I wanted to see if I could find the house in which my grandmother grew up. I had the address so we drove to Thirteenth street and looked for 2300. We found it and I snapped a photo and wondered aloud how that small house could have held nine children. Later, back in Bethesda, I found a photo of some of my grandmother’s family in front of the house.

Grandma's Childhood home, then
Grandma’s Childhood home, then
Grandma's childhood home now
Grandma’s childhood home now

Even though I had a couple of disappointments while visiting Two Rivers, it was a wonderful trip. I hope to go back again someday, but if I don’t, just having walked the streets where my grandmother walked makes me happy.

Smells Like Teen Spirit

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Closeup photo of a cow nose.

After my son left for college in late August I occasionally got a whiff (have I mentioned my heightened — the kids call it “freaky” — sense of smell on this blog?) of a smell I associate with adolescent males. The smell was in the family room, near one end of the couch. I assumed that because he spent more time sleeping on the family room couch than in his own bed the couch had absorbed (of course the fact that our family room couch is leather and probably doesn’t absorb odors didn’t occur to me)  some of his odor. It was not an unpleasant smell, and while I never smelled that particular odor on my son, I thought it was nice that it lingered when he was far away.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we went on our annual over the river and through the woods Christmas Tree hunt (we did go over the river and through the woods but came home without a Christmas tree this year because we left late and the tree farm closed at 4). We made our traditional stop at the Leesburg Antique Emporium and spent an hour or so exploring. Near one of the stalls in the lower level of the store I stopped and sniffed. I distinctly smelled the odor I smelled in the family room. I looked around to see if my son was close-by, but he was in another area of the store. I sniffed, then sniffed again, trying to figure out where the smell was coming from. I finally walked away thinking that my son or another young man must have just been near the stall and the smell was leftover from him (either that or it was from the ghost of a teen age boy).

A little while later I caught up with my son (who had no odor) and daughter (also odorless). As we passed the previously mentioned stall I, once again, smelled the adolescent male smell. This time I asked my daughter if she smelled it. What?, she asked. Teen Spirit, I said, you know — the smell of a teen age boy. She seemed to understand what I meant, and sniffed the air. As my son watched us we sniffed and sniffed. I finally spotted an old clarinet in a disintegrating leather case and sniffed. Bingo. This was the origin of the smell. Both my son and daughter smelled the case and backed away quickly, wrinkling their noses. My daughter said, that’s not what a teen age boy smells like! My son just shook his head. I muttered, maybe it is old teen spit I smelled.

So the other day when I smelled the smell in our family room again, I decided to investigate. It wasn’t the couch. It wasn’t the chair. Wait, could it be the antique musical instrument we have in our family room? I smelled our World Famous Folding Organ. Yep. That was it. Antique musical instruments smell like teen spirit. Who knew?

Up North: The Series::Return to Chetek — Part 2

Memories,

Before we visited the bars in town and chit-chatted with Barb we searched for my grandparents’ cabin. Had this been five years ago I suspect we may not have found it so easily, but this time I was prepared with technology in the form of Google Maps on my phone. I knew the house was off Ten Mile Lake Drive and had pretty much figured out where it was by looking at the satellite view on Google Maps. I remembered that you drove to the end of Ten Mile Lake Drive, then veered off to the right onto a gravel road and went down a hill. Grandpa always honked his horn as he drove down and up the hill to warn other cars he was coming.

Google Maps led us to Ten Mile Lake Drive and we found the turn-off which looked exactly like I remembered it. We drove down the hill and there, at the end of the drive, was the cabin. It looked so much like it did when I used to visit my grandparents I nearly expected Grandma to walk out around the house to greet us. Even the outhouse was still standing.

I was delighted to see that the house had not been torn down or fallen into disrepair. The opposite, in fact. It looked very well taken care of and I could see a number of improvements. The large picture window on the front of the house was replaced with newer windows — in fact it looked like all the windows were replaced. It may also have been enlarged slightly in the front — the old roof line is no longer visible. The only disappointment was that the woods behind the cabin is gone and is now part of a subdivision.

The lake looked much like it did when I used to visit as a teenager — although I suspect the docks have been rebuilt. I’d forgotten that there was a cabin so near Grandma’s cabin, but remembered going inside it and being surprised that they had a large water pump (the old fashioned kind with a handle) at the kitchen sink instead of a faucet.

No one was at the cabin when we stopped by — I was both glad and disappointed. Glad because I would have been shy about trespassing but disappointed that I was not able to meet the people who now owned the cabin. I left knowing that the cabin I loved as a child continued to be loved by the new family.

I’ve since been in touch with the new owners and showed them photos from the time my grandparents owned it. I feel as if something has come full circle for some reason. I went from not knowing if the cabin would even still be standing to having communicated with the new owner who obviously loves it.

If you are interested, you can view photos of the cabin in the 1960’s and photos of the cabin & Chetek now.