Showing posts with label barron county. Show all posts
Showing posts with label barron county. Show all posts

Friday, February 23, 2018

Wisconsin Country Schools


Once a country schoolhouse, now a private residence
Barron County, WI
Photo taken last week.

Yes, the house above was originally built as a school. If I had been close enough to get a photo of the west side, you would see the bank of tall windows.

"In 1919, there were 190,000 one-room schools scattered all around the American countryside. Today, fewer than 400 remain.  These schools, the mainstay of the Wisconsin public elementary school system, had their origins in the Land Ordinance of 1785 where land was set aside to fund education. It said that section 16 in every township in every county be set aside to raise money for the use of schools. The land could sell for no less than $1.25 an acre. Sales commenced May 1, 1850, raising the first money for public education. In the town of Mitchell, section 16 is still known as the school section and remains in much the same state as 1850." - From www.sheboyganpress.com


Joliet School
Now part of the Barron County Historical Society Museum

 Earl, WI Public School, 1924
Now an antique shop

 Sunny Valley School
Originally located in the town of Wheaton,
Later moved to Irvine Park, Chippewa Falls
as a museum

Wisconsin's country schools were built on one acre of land and were located every couple miles. That meant that most kids walked to school, rain or shine, winter or winter. (Winter takes up most of the year up here). 


 I think this former schoolhouse
is located somewhere west of Bloomer, WI


 Woodside School in Barron County,
Now completely gone from the landscape.
I attended this fabulous school in grades 1 and 2
And I'm not responsible for the broken window.
I don't remember learning a thing except that the chocolate goiter tablets were delicious
and most of the other kids would give theirs to me!

About walking to school, uphill both ways: There was one large Catholic family in our school district who did occasionally transport their kids to school in their wood panel station wagon. I remember the dad once asked if I wanted a lift home from school. Of course I said no because they were Catholic. I don't ever remember my parents saying anything negative about that family, so it must have been the kids in the school (figures, doesn't it!) with their strange tales who gave me a fear of Catholic adults. That poor family, undeserving of ridicule and suspicion!  I think they were the only Catholic family in our school. And I'm pretty sure we were the only Baptist family. (Most of the others were Lutheran and Methodist. There was one Communist.) Fortunately I was young enough that the tall tales didn't really affect my relationship with the Catholic family's first and second graders, but imagine...!!!  Besides, what stupid kid would turn down a perfectly good ride in order to walk home in the cold and snow with older brothers who ran on ahead! And why were we so trusting of Lutherans?? (just kidding). :-)

Thank you for your patience and mercy, dear Lord. Help us to remember that your family is made of ALL whose trust is in You. Possibly even Baptists.


District No. 5
Somewhere west of Arland, WI
This is also currently a residence.


 This schoolhouse-turned-residence
is located in Dunn County, WI
Look at all that GREEN!



 Actually, this water cooler with a spigot was a modern contraption.
My school had a bucket and dipper.
We got all our communicable childhood diseases taken care of in just a couple years.


 Inside the Joliet School, pictured above
Most of the country schools were set up like this:
Chalkboards all along one wall
Stove at the back or front
Photos of Washington and Lincoln on either side of the flag
(No, neither was President at the time I attended)
Windows all along another wall
Cloakroom

Of course there was no school cafeteria in those days and we carried our lunches to school in our Roy Rogers metal lunch boxes. I remember a common lunch packed for me was a couple hard boiled eggs, a tomato, itty bitty Morton S&P, and surely there must have been some good old carb in there, but I don't remember it. Maybe my brothers stole it from my lunchbox. Very Likely.


Cute grandkid doing his schoolwork
at my old-fashioned country school desk
in our home library

I think that desk came out of the Earl School when they had their auction years ago.
I also got an amazing deal of a set of world history pull-down maps.

Some Wisconsin kids still attend country schools
(this one in my neighborhood)


***



'Wisconsin Amish'
Set of four photo greeting cards and envelopes
Blank inside for your own message

Check them out!

French Lilac & Lavender
Natural Vegan Soap



HomemadeSoapNSuch


and at


Our ETSY Shop





Join me on Instagram: @cranberrymorning



Judy

Friday, March 11, 2016

Barron County Roads and How They're Named

 Red Cedar River

Happy Friday everyone! Today I'm posting photos I took not far from our house on our way home from Wausau last weekend. All photos were taken in the same general area, which is west of Sand Creek on 1 1/2 Avenue or from Barron Dunn Avenue. Our area is full of natural beauty. It's a wonderful place to visit during the spring, summer, and fall. and the perfect place to visit in the winter if you like depressing darkness, bitter cold, and skiing. :-) But I'll have to admit, even in the winter time, it's beautiful here - mostly if you've got a good fire going in the stove, a hefty stash of popcorn, a stack of books, and dark chocolate. A couple nice big dogs would help too.

With Mr. C's ability to whip up a great morning fry, I sometimes think it would be fun to turn our home into a B&B, except that we'd probably get no takers. Even when people say they want to get out to the countryside for some peace and quiet, they're not usually talking about the very literal peace and quiet that we have here. We could offer good food, beautiful scenery, and lots of good books, but no traffic, no shopping, and no noise.



Since there were a few furrowed brows about the name of the road, 1 1/2 Avenue, in Wednesday's blog post, I thought I'd take a minute to explain how Barron County names its roads. Unlike Dunn County to our south, which seems to have absolutely no rhyme nor reason to their road names, Barron County is laid out on a grid with every street being named according to its distance north/south and east/west of the southwest corner of the [perfectly square] county. If you know this, you need never get lost in Barron County. Everything is measured from that southwest corner.

For example, if the address 320 27th street is where you want to go (I just made that up, but I suspect it actually is someone's address!), that location is 3 1/5 miles north of the south county line and 27 miles east of the west county line - so on a grid it's 27x, 3.20 y.  It makes so much sense.  And if you know your own address and can read the road signs, you can figure out how many miles you are from home. :-) That's always handy. 

Of course, once you enter a town, there are names like Oak, Maple, and Wisconsin. But out in the countryside, you'll find numbers.  And now you know the rest of the story!
 There were well over a hundred whitetail deer in this cornfield
and the one across the road. By the time we stopped
so I could get the photo, several had already bolted.

 Awwwww.
'Can they see us?? Stand perfectly still and maybe they'll go away.'


 Barron Dunn Avenue
Barron County is on the left;
Dunn County is on the right.



Did I mention that all streets run north and south and all avenues run east and west?


The stop sign is facing Sioux Creek Township






Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!  I'll be gone to Texas for a week, so I won't be blogging, but will probably post the occasional photo on Instagram @cranberrymorning. Please make sure that the springtime app is fully installed in Barron County by the time I return. Thank you. :-)


Linked to Weekend Reflections
and Eileen's Saturday's Critters
and Deb's Friday Foto Friends




 ***

Check out my natural, handcrafted vegan soap!
Buy any 5 or more, Get 1 FREE

My shops will be closed March 11 - 20 
We'll be in Texas, y'all! 
Our son will be tending to things at home while we're gone, bless him.

'Oatmeal Almond'
All-natural, Homemade Vegan Soap


...and more! Check out all my handcrafted soaps at
 
HomemadeSoapNSuch


and at


Our ETSY Shop



Have a wonderful weekend!


Judy

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Living in a Schoolhouse


Probably about 40 years ago, it wouldn't have cost much to purchase an old schoolhouse. Some people remodel them so that they're nearly unrecognizable as a schoolhouse. Others don't.  I think many of them had windows mostly along one side, with the north (cold) side being windowless.

Mr. Cranberry disagrees with me on this. He thinks the windows were usually on the north or east side so that there wouldn't be light glare on students' texts or papers. On the other hand, I would have thought they would be on the south side of the building to help heat up the room in the wintertime.

So if anyone out there remembers the old country schoolhouse, do you want to weigh in with your guess or opinion about where the windows were located? Feel free, especially if you agree with me. ;-)


I took this photo from a distance last week. I love the reddish orange steel roof on the old red brick schoolhouse.



Of course, if I were to buy an old schoolhouse to live in, I wouldn't want to remodel it much, except maybe to put in a loft because the ceilings are so high you'd have room to do that. And just think of all the blackboards I would have! Oh, that's right. I do have lots of blackboards. Mr. Cranberry does asbestos removal before demolition, and he's brought home many black slate boards over the years. I can't bear to see them thrown out. That's why we're taking another bunch of them to Cashton for the Amish schools next spring.

Oh look! There's a blackboard in my kitchen!



Have you ever wanted to live in an old schoolhouse? I do realize it's possible that I'm the only person in blogland who has always dreamed about doing that. That's okay. I have a library table, chalkboards, and lots of vintage books. I guess that's good enough. Besides, I'm getting too lazy to move.

Below are a couple pics of the old country school I attended in grades 1-2. It looked better back then. :-)  It was torn down just last week. Glad I took these photos last year.


 Woodside School, Barron County, WI


***


Check out my handcrafted, vegan soaps!
Buy any 5 or more, Get 1 FREE

'Lemon Verbena'

...and more! Check out all my handcrafted soaps at



Although I usually forget to do it, there is a chance that this post will be linked to one or more of these great linky parties:  Amaze Me Monday and Inspiration Monday and Mosaic Monday and The Barn Collective and    Treasure Box Tuesday and Vintage Bliss Tuesday and KatheWithAnE and Rubbish Tuesday and Tuesdays at our Home and Tuesday with a Twist and  Knick of Time Tuesday (vintage)  and   Tweak it Tuesday and Vintage Inspiration Wednesday and Ivy and Elephants Wednesday and Adorned From Above  and Artsy Corner Thursday and  All Things With Purpose and Home & Garden Thursday and Good Fences on Thursdays and  Time Travel Thursday and Freedom Fridays and Every Room in the House Friday Noon and Vintage Inspiration Friday and Saturday's Critters

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Barns in the Neighborhood - Africa


Barn at Africa

This old barn and silo sit at an intersection on Highway O, across from Africa.  For those of you who didn't know that Africa was located in Barron County, WI, that may come as a surprise. But back in the 1940s and 1950s, when the landscape was dotted with country schools, Africa was among them. It was probably similar to the old country school I attended as a first and second grader (amazing how I survived all these years without kindergarten, isn't it!). Since that time, during the great consolidation of c. 1956 when the country schools were merged with the town schools, the small country schools and acre of land they sat on were sold off to private individuals. The school I had attended was moved a couple miles from its location onto a farm, to be used as a granary. Africa stayed right where it was, and was remodeled into living quarters. There it sits to this day. And of course, I always think of this barn as 'the barn at Africa.'


***

Buy Any Five, Get One FREE

'Cucumber Peel & Aloe'
Summertime Fresh, Natural Vegan Soap

...and more! Check out all my handcrafted soaps at



This post may be linked to one or more of the following: Mop it Up Monday  and Get in My Tummy and  Cure for the Common Monday and  Clever Chicks Blog Hop and  Barn Charm and  The Marketplace  and  Mix it up Monday and Make it Pretty Monday and    Making the World Cuter Mondays and Make the Scene Monday and  Something I Whipped Up Monday and  Motivate Me Monday and  Making Monday Marvelous and Get Your Craft On and   You're Gonna Love it Tuesday and Creative Showcase and Memories by the Mile and  Tweak it Tuesday and  Coastal Charm Tuesday and  Take a Look Tuesday and  Tasty Tuesday  and Love Bakes Good Cakes and Mom on TimeOut  and Adorned from Above and Wildcrafting Wednesday and   Cast Party Wednesday and  We Did it Wednesday  and All Things With Purpose and Home & Garden Thursday and It's a Party at Creative Princess and Artsy Corner Thursday  and The Girl Creative, Thursday and  Creative Things Thursday and Be Inspired and Time Travel Thursday and Thrifty Things Friday  and  Friday Fences and  Thursday's Inspiration and  The Self-sufficient Home Acre and  I'm Lovin' it Thursday and Creative Things Thursday and   Mandatory Mooch   and Foodie Friends Friday and Freedom Fridays and From the Farm and   Anything Blue Friday and Junkin' Joe and  Serenity Saturday and Get Schooled Saturday  and Inspiration Friday(ThursNite) and Vintage Inspiration Friday and Photo Friday and Share Your Creativity and   A Favorite Thing Saturday and Sunny Simple Sunday and Sunlit Sunday and  Market Yourself Monday and  Saturday Nite Special

Monday, May 27, 2013

Barns of NW Wisconsin - Barron County


My favorite barns are usually red, but I love the stone wall of this barn on SS north of Cameron, and the fact that it's built into the hillside. To my eye, this has most of the important features, i.e. a silo, a fence, a nice straight roof, and a field of wildflowers. (Yes, they're dandelions, but when you've seen only white for the past several months, the yellow dandelions look beautiful!) Unfortunately, cows, the major feature, are missing.


You know they're only weeds because you don't want them.
Look how pretty they are!



***

This week the grandkids are here. Lots to do, including working on VBS projects (You're right, it doesn't take normal people this long), going to Sand Creek on one of the warmer days, taking the grandpuppy to the vet for checkup and shots, going on nature walks, attending my weekly Bible study with a great group of friends, cleaning up the backyard, playing games, and if we get a really warm day - picking snails for our garden pond.

***

Father's Day Giveaway
Ends Friday night at Midnight

Don't miss my HomemadeSoapnSuch Giveaway
Check the blue Giveaway box on my sidebar.

'Lemon Verbena'
Vegan, Natural, Handcrafted

...and more! Check out all my handcrafted soaps at



This post may be linked to one or more of the following: Mop it Up Monday  and Get in My Tummy and  Cure for the Common Monday and  Clever Chicks Blog Hop and  Barn Charm and  The Marketplace  and  Mix it up Monday and Make it Pretty Monday and    Making the World Cuter Mondays and Make the Scene Monday and  Something I Whipped Up Monday and  Motivate Me Monday and  Making Monday Marvelous and Get Your Craft On and   You're Gonna Love it Tuesday and Creative Showcase and Memories by the Mile and  Tweak it Tuesday and  Coastal Charm Tuesday and  Take a Look Tuesday and  Tasty Tuesday  and Love Bakes Good Cakes  and Overflowing With Creativity and Mom on TimeOut  and Adorned from Above and Wildcrafting Wednesday and   Cast Party Wednesday and  We Did it Wednesday  and All Things With Purpose and Home & Garden Thursday and It's a Party at Creative Princess and Artsy Corner Thursday  and Creative Things Thursday and Be Inspired and Time Travel Thursday and Thrifty Things Friday  and  Friday Fences and  Thursday's Inspiration and  The Self-sufficient Home Acre and  I'm Lovin' it Thursday and Creative Things Thursday and   Mandatory Mooch   and Foodie Friends Friday and Freedom Fridays and  Anything Blue Friday and Junkin' Joe and  Serenity Saturday and Get Schooled Saturday  and Inspiration Friday(ThursNite) and Vintage Inspiration Friday and Photo Friday and  A Favorite Thing Saturday and Sunny Simple Sunday and Sunlit Sunday and  Market Yourself Monday and  Saturday Nite Special

Monday, March 25, 2013

Barns of NW Wisconsin - Barron County




Barn at the south end of the Poor Farm Road
Barron County, Wisconsin


It won't be long now...

By the looks of that roof line, the south wall leaning out, and the boards above buckling, this old barn probably won't stand many years longer.

Not only do I drive past this barn several times a month, but it is in the same neighborhood as the school I attended in first and second grade. At that time, everyone knew his/her neighbors because the kids all attended the same country school. And most of us walked to school - as only the Amish do now.

 Stalactite


 Stalagmite


Yes, sensible people would probably cut down this poor little plum tree.

And, by the way, WINTER is still here in NW Wisconsin, just in case anyone is asking.


But we're hoping for 40 degrees by Easter Sunday!
We are SO ready!




***

'Cranberry Morning'

Natural, Handcrafted Vegan Soap

...and more! Check out all our handcrafted soaps at




 This post may be linked to some of the following: Mop it Up Monday  and  Cure for the Common Monday and Mealtime Monday and Clever Chicks Blog Hop and Mosaic Monday  and Barn Charm and  The Marketplace  and On the Menu Monday and  Mix it up Monday and Make it Pretty Monday and   What's in the Gunny Sack and  Making the World Cuter Mondays and Make the Scene Monday and  Something I Whipped Up Monday and  Motivate Me Monday and  Making Monday Marvelous and Get Your Craft On and   You're Gonna Love it Tuesday and Memories by the Mile and  Creative Showcase and  Tweak it Tuesday and Knick of Time Tuesday and  Coastal Charm Tuesday and  Take a Look Tuesday and  Tasty Tuesday and Tasty Tuesday and Love Bakes Good Cakes and  Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays  and Overflowing With Creativity and Mom on TimeOut  and Adorned from Above and  Cast Party Wednesday and  We Did it Wednesday  and It's a Party at Creative Princess and Artsy Corner Thursday  and Thursday's Inspiration and  The Self-sufficient Home Acre and  I'm Lovin' it Thursday and Creative Things Thursday and   Mandatory Mooch   and Foodie Friends Friday and Freedom Fridays and  Anything Blue Friday and Junkin' Joe and  Serenity Saturday and Get Schooled Saturday  and Inspiration Friday(ThursNite) and Vintage Inspiration Friday and Photo Friday and  A Favorite Thing Saturday and Sunny Simple Sunday and Sunlit Sunday and  Market Yourself Monday and  Saturday Nite Special

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails