Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once called bells the voice of the church. I wasn’t in such a poetic mood the day I craned my neck to study the flimsy stairs I was about to ascend to photograph the bell tower of St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Ashton. “Hell’s bells” was all that I could muster.
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Join my dog, Nobu, and me on a car tour of Ashton, my home town. Along the way I share some of Ashton's history and my thoughts on the changes that mark today's rural life and landscape. Remember to buckle up!
The rolling hills of south central Wisconsin first attracted Yankee farmers before Germans like my ancestors settled here during the mid 19th Century. Though Ashton is named after one of those early Englishmen, the president of the British Temperance Emigration Society that purchased land in Dane County through a lottery system, most Ashtonians today are progeny of German settlers.
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IntroductionThis blog is a book in the making. If you're a new visitor, read Whole Hearted - A Farm Love Story. You can also find a copy in Prologue.
ChaptersPrologue
Father Land Mother Land Father Farm Mother House Brother Barn Sister Silo Granny Granary Epilogue All Archives |