News Point
Autumn 2006:
Finding Home
Cornish Festival
Fall Art Tour
Edgar Allen Poe
Whats Happing

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FINDING HOME

The little house of logs and stone nestles in the pines of Clowney Street, the narrow lane called Mineral Alley in the old lead-mining days. Matt and Denise Ostergrant have lived here just a little over a year, driving to their jobs in Madison each day and investing after-work hours in the painting and carpentry that has made their home an historic gem.

Matt’s background in architecture helps. And these forty-something newcomers feel as if they are enjoying a honeymoon in Mineral Point.

They first drove into town on their honeymoon in 1985. Six years later, they left Dixon, Illinois for Wisconsin, and during the ’90s visited in Iowa County often. “ I was drawn,” Denise said, “by the landscape, by the sweep of the hills.”

Only by chance did Mineral Point become something much more than a place to visit.

“We decided to look for an old farm house to fix up, a place that was cozy,

intimate, and safe. We browsed the land market and then almost reluctantly realized that the streets of a small town might be what we’re looking for.”

A computer search followed. And the log house on Clowney Street popped up.

Matt was skeptical about the cost. The length of the commute, and the work involved in remodeling, but the drawbacks disappeared when they pulled up in front of the cottage. He said simply, “ This might work.”

And it has worked. In more ways than lodging alone.

Matt and Denise were swept away by the welcoming nature of the townspeople, and have experienced a pleasant change in their way of life.

“We were not very social in Madison,” Denise explains. “Our home was our nest, a refuge from things we didn’t like about the world, and we just didn’t feel a sense of connection with like-minded people.”

As newcomers to Mineral Point, Denise and Matt are very connected, with a host of new friends. They are busy around town, and they’re active volunteers at the Shake Rag School, where Matt leads a team of hometown carpenters who are refurbishing the Coach House. “When they asked,” she laughs, “I just said yes.”

“I had not felt a sense of community since I was a kid, Matt said. “I didn’t know how much I missed that feeling until we got here and the spirit of the community started again.”

Denise thinks volunteer service is appropriate for them. “It became obvious what Mineral Point could give us; so we started asking what we could give Mineral Point.”

Can they sum up their feelings about their new home, in just one word?

“Contentment,” said Denise. “Before this time, in this place, we lived for the next step-the next house, the next move, some future opportunity-but today ewe feel grounded, secure, contented with the here and now.”

Matt used the word “real,” then added “authentic.” He pointed to old homes, shops, and buildings that need a lot of help. “As an architect I respond to that need.

“Mineral Point is still a real town, he said. A “real town”, in Matt’s view, is not dressed up to impress strangers. Its residents are genuinely friendly, respecting differing lifestyles and treasuring the variety that comes with small-town living.”

“Contentment.” “Authenticity.” Maybe even “life-altering?”

The Ostergrants said it in unison: “Absolutely!”

News Point
Autumn 2006:
Finding Home
Cornish Festival
Fall Art Tour
Edgar Allen Poe
Whats Happing

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Calendar of Events
Home Page

14th ANNUAL CORNISH FESTIVAL – SEPTEMBER 22-24, 2006

A BIT ABOUT THE CORNISH FESTIVAL

The Southwest Wisconsin Cornish Society was formed in 1991 to raise awareness of the influence the early Cornish immigrants had on SW Wisconsin in general and Mineral Point in particular. Jim Jewell was the first president of the organization, which quickly grew in numbers with members scattered all around the country. Jim had long dreamed of a Festival celebrating the still very visible evidence of the Cornish culture.

In 1993, Edgar Hellum, one of the restorers of the Pendarvis complex was named a Bard of Cornwall for his work in saving and preserving the Cornish-built buildings on the Shake Rag. The first festival was a one day affair with an afternoon program at the UCC Church where Edgar was presented his Bardic certificate in a mini-ceremony with Howard Curnow, St. Hilary, Cornwall presiding. The day was capped off by an evening pasty banquet and program, also at the church. About 100 people attended. In 1994 the festival was expanded to two days. The Taste of Mineral Point became a part of the festival in 1995. In 1998 the first Genealogy Seminar was held on the Friday of Festival weekend. Co-sponsored by the Cornish Society of Greater Milwaukee, the seminars have become a biennial event, drawing 70 or so people. 2005 saw the first Cornish Language School, an event planned to be held annually. SW Wisconsin Cornish Society regularly hosts entertainers and/or speakers from Cornwall to be part of the celebration. Several have come from Cornwall on their own as well. Cornish visitors are amazed at the “Cornishness” of the community, both in appearance and in the population.

In 2001, SWCS hosted the North American Gathering of Cornish Cousins which brought over 300 people from the US, including Hawaii, Canada, Cornwall, and Australia. The Gathering lasted four days.

Something that is unique to SWCS and to Mineral Point is the number of Bards in the Society. Edgar Hellum was the first in 1993; Jim Jewell was named a Bard in 1995; Marion Howard in 1998; Jean Jolliffe, of Brookfield, a former member of our Society became a Bard in 1996. And this year, on Sept. 2, 2006, Richard (Dick) Baker, will be named a Bard at the ceremony in Redruth. There are about 500 Bards of the Cornish Gorsedd in the whole world. These are individuals who are recognized for their work toward the preservation and promotion of the culture of this people of Celtic origin.

One does not have to be Cornish to join the Society or take part in the Festival. It is a celebration of a very special heritage, one among the many that make up the whole of Southwest Wisconsin and the community of Mineral Point.

KIDDLEYWINK PUB NIGHT
One of the highlights of the Annual Cornish Festival is Kiddleywink Pub Night, held on Friday September 22. The quaint Kiddleywink Pub in the rowhouse at Pendarvis offers a special evening with live music, a cash bar, and a variety of pub games. This event is a fund-raiser for the Pendarvis Memorial Endowment Trust.

A BIT ABOUT THE PENDARVIS PUB
Pendarvis Interpretation Manual
The Kiddleywink Pub at Pendarvis is a creation of Edgar Hellum and Robert Neal, two men who began the restoration in the 1930s. At no time within the original Rowhouse was there ever a pub, until the early 1960s when Edgar began rehabilitating the Rowhouse and was inspired to create one because he thought it would be a nice addition to the Site. He had already visited Cornwall several times by the 1960s, where he had experienced several Cornish pubs, and he thought Pendarvis should have one as well.

AND WHAT EXACTLY IS A “KIDDLEYWINK”?
The name kiddleywink came about when, in 1825, there was a sizeable reduction made in the tax imposed on English-made spirits. The reduction made the alcohol much cheaper to buy. This reduction in price brought about wholesale drunkenness on a scale seldom seen before in Cornwall. As a result, social reformers passed the Beer Act of 1830 in an effort to substitute inebriating-but-less-harmful beer for the harsher gin then consumed so freely.

The Beer Act allowed any householder to obtain an excise license to sell beer, provided he pay two guineas and post a small bond. The result was that within months, tiny dram shops sprang up all over Cornwall in every town, village, and hamlet. These legal beer-houses, however, also sold smuggled brandy, French cognac, and even Irish whiskey, on the sly. The illegal beverage was concealed in a “kettle” which the Cornish called “kiddley.” A knowing customer would give a wink of the eye to signal to the owner of the pub that he wished a mug of “real stuff” rather than the legal beer. The kettle-and-wink became “Kiddleywink” and was sometimes shortened to “wink.”

Such beer-houses, of course, had their critics and opponents from the start. The latter claimed that they were the haunts of thieves and profligates, while their keeps were accused of acting as receivers of stolen goods. In these houses, it was stated, plots were hatched, and all manner of evil was set on foot against the propertied classes and the State.” (Cornwall and Its People, 202)

A kiddley wink pub, then, is specifically a pub that deals in illegal ardent spirits acquired by smuggling or wrecking or other salvage in Cornwall.

Nothing illegal here though – just a whole lot of fun and games! You are invited to join us.

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FALL ART TOUR

Pottery wheels are spinning, glory holes are fired up, welders are hot, woodchips are flying, shuttles are flying and shutters are clicking. Painters, sculptors, and artists of all kinds are busy getting ready for the Fall Art Tour on October 21-22.

Always a great place to visit, Mineral Point is an especially great destination every year during the third weekend of October. Now in its 13th year, the Fall Art Tour is a unique opportunity to meet the artists, watch them demonstrate their work, and purchase a masterpiece that you will treasure for years. Eighteen Mineral Point artists join with others in the neighboring communities of Baraboo, Spring Green and Dodgeville for a fascinating tour that encompasses approximately 60 miles and 54 of the Midwest’s most talented craftsmen. The artists cordially invite you into their personal workspaces and explain the process of their crafts.

And if that isn’t enough, you’ll find yourself drinking in some of the country’s most awesome autumn color as you weave your way though the scenic hills and valleys and the quaint streets of small town Wisconsin. You can find a preview at www.fallarttour.com or call for a full color brochure. We predict you will want to visit for the real thing.

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EDGAR ALLEN POE
HOSTED AT ORCHARD LAWN:THE GUNDRY HOUSE
OCTOBER 21, 22, 27, 28

Act One – The Gathering
As night falls, the front porch lights illuminate the grand entrance to the Gundry House. Curious guests, some dressed in costume, filter in and find their seats in the parlor of this magnificent old home. The stage is bare, save for a hint of mystery in the air. What was that? Was it Edgar himself. Or was it a ghost of some long ago forgotten character blown in on a chilling wind? Have no fear - it was just one of our very much alive residents getting in character for the fifth season of An Evening With Edgar Alan Poe.

Act Two – The Readings
The guests are seated. The heavy front door is shut. The lights are dimmed, As a hush falls, the first unfortunate character arrives on stage. This is no ordinary evening. It’s 1840 all over again, a time of poets, pimps and parading specters. How desperately they tell their chilling tales directly to you.

Act Three – The Refreshments
The finale was impressive, the applause is genuine, and now the parlor lights are brightened once again. The guests gradually file into the library and dining room to enjoy drinks, hors ‘d oeuvres and conversations with friends and neighbors. And now some of those same characters from the stage are appearing again….they seem a bit more casual now as they mingle among the guests. As the evening becomes night, the guests slowly disappear, but all are heard to exclaim that they’ll be back next year for more.

Four performances - October 20, 21, 27, 28 - 8 PM
Tickets available: Berget’s Jewelers, (608) 987-3218
$20

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Past Issues:
Winter 2006
Autumn 2006
Spring 2007

MineralPoint:
Calendar of Events
Home Page

HERE’S WHAT’S HAPPENING THIS FALL

September
8 Jammin' on the Porch, Orchard Lawn
8 - 10 "Hook / Dye / Felt" Workshops , Shake Rag Alley
22 – 24 Cornish Festival
22 Kiddleywink Pub Night, Pendarvis State Historic Site
23 Crowdy Crawn, Pendarvis State Historic Site
24 Pancake Breakfast, Masonic Temple

October
6 – 8 Paper And Polymer Workshops. Shake Rag Alley
8 4-H Toy Show, Iowa County Fairgrounds
14 Fish Boil, Hope Lutheran Church
20 – 21 An Evening with Edgar Allen Poe, Orchard Lawn
20 – 22 Fall Art Tour
27 – 28 An Evening with Edgar Allen Poe, Orchard Lawn

November
4 Customer Appreciation Day
12 Pancake Breakfast, Masonic Temple

Full calendar of events is here

For a complete listing of classes and workshops at The Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts, see www.shakeragalley.com

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Planning a visit to Mineral Point? Or just interested in knowing more? Call 608.987.3201 or email info@mineralpoint.com to receive a FREE Visitors Guide or visit www.mineralpoint.com anytime for updates and information.