A book of Badger state superlatives; yay cheese curds!; Joan of Arc prayed here (maybe, sort of).
As a resident of Wausau, I am obligated to make Rib Mountain State Park my favorite state park. I look at it nearly every day and have visited it more often than any other park in Wisconsin. I love the place so much I've publicly taken a tenuous position that yes, Rib Mountain really is a mountain, despite snarky comments from Coloradoan visitors.
But after a stellar overnight backpacking trip to Newport State Park in Door County last week, I think that park is now also my favorite Wisconsin state park. Oh, you can't have two favorites, you say? Tell that to the parent of twins.
My friend Bob Dohr opened the door to backpacking for me, years after I thought I hated it. It turned out, I just hate long and arduous backpacking trips. I love short and easy backpacking trips, the kind where you can carry in a big can of Dinty Moore Beef Stew for supper without having to worry too much about how much it weighs.
It was cold for our night just off a beach on Lake Michigan's shoreline. The bite in the air kept me awake much of the night, but it still was worth it to watch the stars come out after the sun went down. Newport is probably the best place in the state to star gaze; it's a Dark-Sky Park, a designation bestowed by the International Dark-Sky Association. It's one of only 18 such parks in the country and the only one in the state. (Newport is also the state's only wilderness state park, because of its limited development and size.)
I'm not sure if Newport State Park gets a mention in a new book, "The Geography of Wisconsin," published by University of Wisconsin Press. But the book does highlight a number of superlatives about the state. This makes it a travel book as much as a geography book, and I'm going to order a copy as soon as I finish this newsletter. Meanwhile, Jim Higgins' story will give you a taste:
📫[Sign up to get the Be Wisconsin newsletter in your inbox every Friday]
📰[We can’t write this newsletter without your support. Become a subscriber today]
Say cheese!
Dan Higgins writes: "Grabbing a handful of slightly warm curds at the factory is best. Although 'best' undersells the difference. Delightful. Divine. Heavenly. That's more like it." Amen.
By the way, Dan's piece is part of the "What the Wisconsin" series in which we answer readers' questions about Wisconsin. If you have a question you'd like us to explore, click on the link above, read the story and fill out the form attached to the end.
Oh, and speaking of cheese curds, who do we need to talk to to make this a statewide thing? (Check out the video, too!)
Didja know? A Wisconsin fact drop
Didja know that Joan of Arc reportedly prayed in the oldest building in Milwaukee? You probably did, if you attended Marquette University or have scratched into the surface of the history of Wisconsin's largest city.
But the intriguing saga of the St. Joan of Arc Chapel is new to me. The building was built in the early 15th century in Chasse, located southeast of Lyon in France. That's where Joan of Arc supposedly knelt and worshiped.
The chapel was purchased in 1927 by Gertrude Hill Gavin, a Joan of Arc stan and the daughter of the U.S. railroad baron James J. Hill. She was rich enough not only to buy the building, but scoop it up and rebuild it on her estate in Long Island, New York. France instituted a ban on exporting such cultural artifacts soon after.
Gavin's estate, including the chapel, was purchased by Marc and Lillian Rotjman. Marc was president of Racine's J.I. Case until 1960, and he apparently was paid well. He and his wife were Marquette stans, and they donated it to the Catholic university.
Source: A terrific story Chris Foran of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Contact Keith Uhlig at 715-845-0651 or kuhlig@gannett.com. Follow him at @UhligK on Twitter and Instagram or on Facebook.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Be Wisconsin:Badger state superlatives, cheese curds, Joan of Arc
