Riding the Pecatonica State Trail
By Dena Nechkash Since I started working with the Belmont Tourism group, I’ve heard more and more about the Pecatonica State Trail, but I hadn’t spent much time on it. When I lived in Belmont several years ago, I would walk a mile or…
Rural Electrification
The village of Boaz was recently in the news for an Alliant Energy project establishing a microgrid to improve the reliability of power to this small community in the event of an outage or service interruption. Boaz is known for its electrical history. After…
Ice Hiking in Vernon County
By Dena Nechkash Sometimes it is easier to just stay at home in winter, where it’s warm and familiar. But then sometimes your system needs to be recharged, shocked into action. Winter is only cold and unbearable if you make it so. Wearing the…
Winter Recreation
By Dena Nechash The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has mapped out state properties accessible for winter activities like hiking, snowshoeing, cross country skiing and more! OutWiGo (Out We Go) is a statewide initiative encouraging everyone to improve their overall health and wellness by…
First Capitol & Wisconsin Territory 1836
Southwest Wisconsin was a political hub in the 1830s, when Wisconsin transitioned from a territory to a state. The first governor of the Wisconsin Territory (in 1836), Henry Dodge, was from nearby Mineral Point, and the first official governor of the state of Wisconsin…
Mineral Point Celebrity Connections
Following the death of 99-year-old Betty White — a beloved comedic actress best known for parts in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Golden Girls and Hot in Cleveland — a question has been circling locally about her final resting place. Some in Mineral…
Point of Beginning
Hazel Green, WI – Grant County One of the coolest historic markers I’ve discovered is on the Illinois-Wisconsin border just south of Hazel Green, where Grant and Lafayette counties meet. The “Point of Beginning” historic marker is significant because in the 1830s-1860s all points…
Big Springs
By Dena Nechkash With no signs along the highway or any clues to its existence, it’s no wonder that Big Springs has remained a hidden gem for so long! Tucked away in a rural valley in Iowa County, near Highland, Wis., is a small…
Great Fall Color
By Dee Nechkash While we hoped the fall color would trickle in this year, showing itself over the first few weeks of October, most of Southwest Wisconsin has remained green in the warm, wet autumn conditions. Until now. I thought maybe it was a…
Find Fall Color
By Dena Nechkash With Southwest Wisconsin’s fall color peak just two weeks off (third week of October), you can start looking in some of your favorite places for pockets of red, orange and gold. While the driftless hillsides aren’t yet speckled in vibrant colors,…
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