Near the Hyde church, mill and blacksmith shop, this barn sat on the valley floor and has an odd appearance with all the extra additions on the end of the barn which seems to go on and on. Just like this winter which is going on and on with snow drifting on the road again.
Endless Barn
A small green sign stating the word ‘Hyde’ is all that gives a slight hint of an unincorporated community located rolling hills of southern Wisconsin. In the 1898 Turner’s Hand Book and Gazetteer of Wisconsin, it lists the population of Hyde as 95 and states “is in Ridgeway township, Iowa county, 9 miles from Arena, the nearest shipping point on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Ry. Arena is reached by tri-weekly stage. It has a cheese factory, a grist mill, shoe shop, blacksmith shop, general store and a Congregation church.”
I didn’t spot the cheese factory which was built in 1891 but did see the the Hyde Store which housed a post office and was a mail and supply stop for a stage coach between Sauk City and Mineral Point. Lena Olson and Annie Johnson operated the store for half a century. Today it is a small country bar.
The old 1883 Hyde Blacksmith Shop was deteriorating and it was donated to the Hyde Blacksmith Shop Territory committee and torn down piecemeal in 2000. In 2008 stone mason Art Kirch offered to rebuild the shop for a lower sum than committee projected and the blacksmith shop was rebuilt on a new location. Each year since it was rebuilt, the blacksmith committee has held an open house to familiarize the public with this icon from the history of the valley.
Hyde Blacksmith Shop
Just down the road from the Hyde Chapel, the Hyde Mill sits on Mill Creek. The mill was built in 1850 by William Hyde who settled in the area. The mill burned in the 1870s but was rebuilt and the Ted Sawle family has owned the mill since 1931 and it has been a working mill, even generating electricity.
Ted Sawle made the water wheel for his mill as well as other water wheels for other mills, including an 18 foot wheel for a mill in Indiana that originally was built by Daniel Boone’s younger brother, Squire Boone. But now Hyde Mill is currently for sale as Ted passed away at the age of 103.
Hyde Mill
In the rolling hills of Iowa County in Wisconsin, and originally known as the Mill Creek Church, the Hyde Chapel was built in 1862. Notes in records stated, “no place needed a church and preaching more than did the Mill Creek Valley”. Whether they needed preaching or not, the people of the valley held a meeting at which they “unanimously resolved to build a house for public worship if they in any way could” and they did build their church.
The Covenant and Confession of Faith by the Presbyterian and Congregational Churches of Wisconsin were adopted but the church was always open to people of various faiths and Congregationalists, Lutherans, Baptists, Methodists and Catholics are buried in the adjacent cemetery.
The Hyde Congregational Church continued until 1957 when it was disbanded and the church doors were thus closed except for the occasional funeral. Although it appeared the church would fall into decay, a non-profit corporation, the Hyde Community Association, was formed to preserve and maintain the Hyde Church as a historical landmark and memorial to the pioneers of the community in 1966 and inducted into the National Registry of Historic Places on October 13, 1988.
Hyde Chapel
Spring may officially be here but winter is still hanging on with lows around zero again tonight.
Still Hanging On
I’m glad the predicted sleet and freezing rain missed my area since I don’t like ice unless it is used to cool a drink on a hot summer day like a snow cone or when ice is creating unique formations in ice caves. There is beauty in the ice caves but not when ice is coating the roads or my sidewalk.
Narrow Icy Cave
Well today is the first day of spring and two years ago, this pretty little flower was blooming before the official start of spring. If it tried blooming this year, the Glory of the Snow would have to bloom under a snow bank even if it is spring.
Glory of the Snow
But when I look from my porch, I couldn’t see any spring flowers this year so I decided to rectify that problem and ‘plant’ some flowers which I could view from my porch!
When I looked out the windows this morning, it didn’t look like the last day of winter, but more like the first day of winter. Old man winter is not letting go this year – not with five new inches of snow.
End of Winter?
After shoveling snow this morning and more snow predicted for tonight, it is time for the snow to stop since spring starts on Thursday or at least astronomical spring starts. Meteorological spring supposedly started on March 1 and even the rodent said spring should be here by now but I’m not seeing any sign of spring yet so I’m declaring an emergency!
Winter Emergency
Today is St. Patrick’s Day, and when I think of Ireland, I think of green, rocky hills.
Green Rocks
Like many holidays, the actual holiday event has changed over the years and St. Patrick’s Day has little to do with the Catholic Saint and is more about partying and green beer. And it is snowing so the leprechauns would freeze and need to dress a little warmer like a bear.
