No, not that Augusta.
Augusta, Wisconsin is probably best known for Dells Mill just north of town. The grist mill is still open as a tourist attraction - a peak back into a past of raising crops and grinding it into flour.
Augusta is home to Bush's Beans - Baked Beans, Chili, and their famous secret family recipe.
Augusta was our home for 13 years. It's where the boys grew up - Matt was 5, Mark almost 3 when we moved to town.
We bought a big old Civil War era home that needed a lot of work. It had great hardwood floors, a wonderful front door, a claw-foot bathtub upstairs, and was the right size for a young family.
About the time we expected to be there a very long time, we decided to add on and renovate. What transpired was a lot like the plot of the movie, Money Pit. And, less than three years later, we were moving again.
It's still the longest we've lived in one spot. In Osceola, Pierre, and Janesville we managed to live at least two places during our less than three years in each location.
Augusta is a small community in north Wisconsin. 1,500 or so folks; a bunch of churches; more bars than churches (which is the norm in Wisconsin it seems); Bush's Beans and some other small industries; two block Main Street shopping district; and school.
Matt graduated from Augusta High; Mark left in the middle of sophomore year. Our lives revolved around A.A.L. and activities at Grace Lutheran Church where we were members.
For fun on paydays, we'd meet the kids at school to pick them up on Friday afternoons and make the half-hour trip to Eau Claire for an evening's meal and a movie or some other entertainment.
Each summer, Augusta celebrates Bean and Bacon Days on a weekend around the Fourth of July. A big parade is Sunday afternoon, with our house on the main drag through town (Lincoln Street), we hosted a couple hundred folks on our lawn and terrace near the street. Our glassed-in front porch became our "sky box" in the rain and a comfortable spot for special friends to sit.
Over the years, I learned a couple well placed trash cans made our clean-up after the parade much easier.
Augusta's Memorial Day parade bypassed our house to take a detour so the band and veterans would pass in front of the Augusta Nursing Home on the way to the East Lawn Cemetery. It was nice to be there with veterans of long ago wars as they stood for the flag. Then, we'd walk behind the parade to the program at East Lawn for speeches, military band music by the High School Band, prayers, and the calling of the roll.
One year that stands out was a perfect day with bright blue skies... during the ceremony I looked up and a Bald Eagle was flying overhead. Perfect.
While we lived up there we saw lots of Bald Eagles. I saw my one and only actual Badger not named Bucky; had to stop the car for big Black Bears crossing the road; had one deer collision and several close calls; saw foxes and coyotes; and enjoyed the passing of seasons.
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| This is the Augusta house the day we moved. |
Living so far north, when deer season opened the Saturday before Thanksgiving, you could hear gunfire all the in town. Friends of mine with homes in the country wore blaze orange to walk to the mailbox and I knew one woman who, while doing her hair, had a bullet aimed at a deer end up in the bathroom sink in front of her. It missed the deer, penetrated the wall of the house, and landed in the sink.
It's beautiful country; a nice place to raise a family; and a good place to make a living for that decade plus three years.
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