Rustic Road 60 Historic Signs
SORR is researching how we can create picnic areas along side RR60- equipped with historic signs denoting the historical significance of different areas on the Road.
There are turn outs located along side Lost Canoe, White Sand, and White Birch Lakes that would be great areas to add a picnic bench and historic signs descibing the history of the area.
The turnouts are already in place. There are already areas along side Lost Canoe, White Sand, and White Sand Lake that provide limited parking spots and/or a turn around. All we have to do now is find the resources to create the signs and gather volunteers to trim up the trees and bushes in these areas.
Help us create a Rustic Road corridor of signs that explain the deep history of the area.
Did you know that:
Star Lake used to be the largest town in Vilas County?
The area along side RR60 had a Wisconsin CCC Camp?
Has a rich history in Native American culture- including Princess Escanaba?
the area was the home of Aqualand, was a very well-known wildlife park and petting zoo. School groups by the bus loads came from all over northern Wisconsin and from the UP of Michigan. People still share their memories of feeding frogs to the muskies, the goats walking across the swinging bridge, feeding milk bottles to the fawns and baby goats, going into the deer park and feeding the deer and of course giving “bear brew” to “Kodi” the Kodiak bear.
Following is an excerpt from the Green Bay Press-Gazette in 1963. “The dream of a man who loves animals and nature has resulted in one of the North Country’s most educational and well-patronized tourist attractions. The man is pat Wilsie. The place is Aqualand in Boulder Junction, a 40 acre display of virtually every game and animal native to the state of Wisconsin, along with a lot of others who aren’t. In 1956, Aqualand opened officially and it has been booming ever since. As many as 1,250 visitors have been checked through the gate in a single day this year and the annual attendance hits better than 72,000. Thousands of school children visit the display in May as part of educational tours and during the summer, the various youth camps in the area bring groups over. Here is one place where there are no signs forbidding feeding the animals. Children are allowed to feed fawns out of a baby bottle and the tourists toss more than 80 dozen frogs to the muskies and otter each week. Canada Geese come up for corn and grown deer eat out of a tourist’s hand.
Where is the REAL home of the Hodag?
By 1907, loggers had cut down most of the trees in the Star Lake area and left just a few remnants behind. The Star Lake Mill alone took over four hundred million board feet of logs out of the Star Lake area. In 1907, the last log, draped in an American flag, went out of Star Lake and soon after, Camp 1 was closed. The mill and all but the store closed. The employees of the mill, loggers, their families, and homes were put on the train and shipped off to the next logging community and Star Lake became a ghost town overnight.
And- that's just for starters. Just think of the rich histories we can share of the loggers, family resort owners, fisherman, bait shop owners, and more.
What do we need to do?
Raise funds to pay for Wisconsin Historic Signs.
Obtain permission from the DNR for areas of interest on the State's land.
Create and install signs.
Create digital map of the area that connects to other historic websites.