Originally published Oct. 17, 2008
Hell-bent is never the right way to drive so on my way home from a bit of book research recently I stopped in Cable to check on, appropriately enough, Forest Lodge Library, one of my favorites in all of Wisconsin. Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002, it looks like a library should in the north woods. It is a hand-hewn log building that dates to 1925, with a fieldstone fireplace, wood floors and shelves stuffed with books, a gift to the community by onetime summer resident Mary Livingston Griggs. Wabeno, in Forest County, also has a wonderful log library, and long may they serve readers in their quaint, old-fashioned way.
What drew my attention, though, was the gleaming new building adjacent to the library, the newly opened Cable Natural History Museum, a larger, greener and more up to date structure than the museum’s original quarters. The first museum, built in 1967, was essentially an add-on to the log library and was connected by a glass walkway, and while it served the small community’s needs fine for many years it eventually became too small and insufficient for program and exhibit needs, which led to the construction of the $1.8 million facility that opened late this summer, which was coincidentally the museum’s 40th birthday.
As birthday presents go, it is a beauty, and naturalist Cully Shelton was more than happy to show it of. The new one-story museum was designed to appear to rise up out of the earth and has a green roof that is meant to look like a tree canopy. It has more exhibit space, expanded classrooms and offices, a gift and book shop and employs the latest in energy-efficient components. I spent a while taking in the inaugural exhibit, “Paradise Lost? Climate Change in the Northwoods,” which features the work of several dozen artists who reflect on what a changing environment could mean for northern ecosystems. I was happy to see the work of a number of friends in the exhibit, including poems by John Bates and weavings by Mary Burns, photos by Jeff Richter and a nice piece of acrylic on wood by Howard Paap.
The museum (http://www.cablemuseum.org/), on the curve in downtown Cable, is open year-round from Tuesday-Saturday and is an especially good stop for families with kids because of wildlife displays, workshops and summer programs. And note that a few miles away is the very nice Forest Lodge Nature Trail, maintained by the museum and open to the public. I found the trail by accident many years ago and would have gone back to hike it again if time had permitted, but it did not. I headed for home, not hell-bent, of course, and not even in a hurry. If you should get to Cable, check out the old and the new. There’s something almost time-bending about checking your e-mail from a log cabin library.
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