Ashland, Wisconsin

1,868 miles

Mar 25 – Eight Indian nations have lived here on Chequamegon Bay, including refugee Petun, Huron, and Ottawa, who were fleeing wars and Iroquois invasions from the East in the 1600s.   Later, Ojibwe people came here to trade, and they came to dominate the region.  Four national flags have flown over the area around Ashland: Spanish, French, English and American.  It is an area of much cultural mingling.  Nowadays the racial makeup of the city is about 87% White, 7.5% Native American, and 4% from two or more races.

Ashland, and surrounding Ashland County, has become has become a public art destination.  The 8-block Main Street business district, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, contains 13 public murals depicting actual people, places, and events from Ashland County’s history.  (Others can be seen from Butternut to Madeline Island, and tourist maps show a scenic map to follow to see them all.  The one seen in Iron River may be an outlier of this group.)  

storefront mural

Local mural artists Kelly Meredith and Susan Prentice Martinsen used an art technique that creates the optical illusion that the painted people & objects are really 3-dimensional.  Trompe-l'œil is French for "deceive the eye".  Ashland also built a Mural Brick Road as a fun promotion to bring attention to the historical murals

Book Across the Bay

Ashland hosts an annual winter event called Book Across the Bay, a 10 kilometer cross-country ski and snowshoe race.  It is a unique winter event, because it follows a route not on land, but over the frozen surface of Lake Superior, the world's largest lake.  The course, which is groomed for both classic-style and skate skiing, starts in Ashland, and ends in nearby Washburn. 

ice luminaries on course

The event is held at night, and the course is lit by up to 1,000 candles in ice luminaries that line the entire route.  The word "Book" was also used as a pun in the title because in 1996 the race was initially organized as a fundraiser for the public library.

info: Wikipedia.com

bay image:  http://www.northland.edu/news/researchers-reveal-vulnerabilities-surprises-of-chequamegon-bay/

mural walk info:  http://www.ashlandwihistory.com/mural-walk.html

county murals:  http://www.muralbrickroad.com/

Book Across the Bay image:  http://batb.org/