A Place of Flowers

The bus that was to take me to the Ice Age Trail was late, so Glenda and I had an hour to walk around the lovely little town of Algoma, Wisconsin. The name is supposed to be a Native American word for something like “a place of flowers.”

This small town is that and much more. The local government has done a great job of restoring and refreshing the downtown area. With only 3,000 people, they have done a lot with what they have. Little stores and boutiques dot the landscape, and beautiful public parks are strewn everywhere.

Fishing is the main activity here, and anglers come from all over the world to bag rainbow trout, brown trout and, in the winter, whitefish. Ice fishing is what the locals like best. They don’t cancel school because of snow, but they will close classes if the wind chill drops below minus 25 Fahrenheit.

Algoma is out of the hustle-bustle of the City of Green Bay to the South, and the hospitable residents who welcomed us here today think that their town is just about perfect. I don’t think they are far off the mark.Read more