The last time my sister Susan and I visited Bayfield County was around 1965 or 1966, when we drove there with our parents, Nelson and Mary. As I mentioned in yesterday's blog post, we took a road trip last week, and after visiting Clear Lake, Iowa, we headed to Duluth, Minnesota, and the Motel 6 luxury resort and spa located there (nothing but the best for us, after all). The next morning, we headed to Bayfield County, where my Grandfather Hoyt and his brother-in law, known to us as Uncle John, each purchased adjoining 40 acre parcels south of Herbster, Wisconsin, the city limits of which can be seen in the photograph on the left. If I am not mistaken, the place is even smaller now than it was 55 years ago. And yes, I still own and pay taxes on those 40 acres that my grandfather purchased back in 1918.
The photograph on the right shows downtown Herbster, with Lake Superior in the background. As I recall, there was once a tavern on each corner of this interssection, and a cafe just down the way, neither of which is still there. There is a restaurant in town, which was not there the last time we visited, but other than that, not much else. I picked up some Northern Wisconsin real estate magazines in a nearby town, and was surprised - no, shocked - to find that lakefront real estate in Herbster was selling in the 600K range. Wow! Why couldn't my Grandfather Hoyt and Uncle John have bought real estate on the lake? And no, I am not bitter.
And where they did buy property? About 5 miles south of Herbster, deep in the woods. Before making the trip, I checked various GIS maps, and made some phone calls, and found a route to where the property line starts. Uncle John let his 40 acres go for taxes during the depression, and it is now owned by the county. My grandfather decided to keep his half, and my father Nelson inherited it. Once I had a full time job, he offered to give me those 40 acres. All I had to do was pay the taxes on it. I really thought I was getting a good deal, but after years of writing those checks to the tax assessor twice a year, I have had second thoughts. The photograph on the left is of the trail I took after parking along the side of Campbell Road, about two blocks away from where the property line begins.
I took the self portrait on the right where I think my property begins. It is two blocks by four blocks, and after reaching this point, I realized that if I wanted to go any further, I would have to claw my way through heavy vegetation and closely spaced trees for the next four blocks if I wanted to see the whole property. My sister Susan decided that she would stay in the car with her dog Blackberry, and if I did continue, I would have been gone quite a while, which I didn't want to do. And besides, I now had a good idea of what it all looks like. Years ago, my grandfather built a log cabin on the site, and he, my grandmother, my father, and his cousin Grace stayed up there until Thanksgiving. My father told me it was so cold by then, he had to get out of the horse drawn school wagon and jog along side to keep warm. I told him he must be pretty damn old to have taken a horse drawn school wagon, which I don't think he appreciated. In any case, I hope to return one of these days to Herbster and see if I can photograph the remains of that cabin. Hopefully in less than another 55 years.
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