Baraboo, Dells, and Devil's Lake Region Part 13

Way to the Glen

In journeying to the Glen, variety of view is obtained by taking the road, from Baraboo, on top of the bluffs and returning by the main highway. The Merrimack road leads via Ringlingville, through Glenville, and on up the bluff to the flat top about three miles from town.

Following the first turn to the left a level tract is soon noticed on the right as the machine pa.s.ses a German Lutheran church and public school. On the unbroken surface reposed a glacial lake hemmed in on one side by ice, and on the other by the hills. But a short distance beyond, on the left, kettle holes (cavities left by melting blocks of ice) may be seen, also the terminal moraine, a ridge of land but a few rods away.

Point Sauk

About two miles from the church, where the road curves slightly to the right, a by-road disappears between a farmhouse and barn, formerly the P. Fitzsimmons homestead. Less than a quarter of a mile from the main road, to the right as one proceeds, is Point Sauk, the most elevated land in the entire region, 1620 feet high. Here one obtains an extensive view. With a gla.s.s the capitol dome at Madison, 285 feet high, the highest but one in the United States and the highest but three in the world, nearly thirty miles away, may be seen on the horizon.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FOUNTAIN AT DURWARD'S GLEN]

Continuing on the main road less than a half-mile to Wawanissee Point.

Lake Wisconsin may be seen in the hazy distance, the village of Merrimack being hidden on the right.

Stepping into the wooded pasture and ascending a knoll, a wonderous view is enjoyed. The checkered farms, the s.h.i.+mmering lake, the distant hills combine in making one of the charming pictures of the region.

Wawanissee is an Indian word which means beauty or beautiful.

To the left, this side of the river, the Owl's Head, a knot of an elevation, lifts itself above the surrounding country.

Turning to the left at the T in the road, swinging to the right at the first turn, the way but a few rods from the T, leads directly to Durward's Glen. There one stops by a gate at the left, after crossing a bridge at the bottom a hill.

The Durwards

Bernard I. Durward, a professor, poet, and painter, was born at Montrose, Scotland, and married Margaret Hilyard in the Episcopal church at Manchester, England. They came to America and some time after, at the request of a friend, Joshua Hathaway of Milwaukee, Mr.

Durward painted a portrait of Archbishop Henni. While engaged on the picture, the artist was converted to Catholicism. He often remarked that while he got the bishop's picture, the bishop got him. The portrait, with one of Mr. Hathaway, is now in the possession of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, at Madison.

Wisconsin Was a Territory

It was in 1845 that the father, mother, and two sons came from England to Wisconsin, then a territory. They reached Milwaukee without funds but provision for the family was soon a.s.sured by an order for a portrait from a merchant in the city. Before making Milwaukee their home, however, the family spent a short time in Dodge County and of this experience a son, Rev. Fr. J. T. Durward, has written:

"Indians being then plentiful and Cooper's tales the popular reading, it was no place for a young wife and children, so he rented a house in Milwaukee; his profession also requiring the more populous locality."

While the family resided in Milwaukee the father painted portraits and occupied the chair of belles lettres in St. Francis seminary. But the ebullitions of life in a city, even the size of Milwaukee, disturbed the artistic mind and the painter sought seclusion in a retreat amongst the Caledonia Hills at the Glen. Like Th.o.r.eau, politics, palaces and paved streets had no lure for his aesthetic temperament.

The Children

Frederick, afterwards called Bernard, was born in England and died at Riverside, Milwaukee.

Percy, the future artist known as Charles, was born in England and died at the Glen from eating water hemlock. He employed an "o" in his name, spelling it Dorward, the usual form after the so-called reformation.

Earlier in Scotch history the name was spelled Durward.

Emerson, afterwards John Thomas, was born in Milwaukee and died in Baraboo in 1918. For many years he had charge of St. Joseph's church in the city, supervised the erection of the present edifice, and wrote a number of books, "Holy Land and Holy Writ," "Durward's Life and Poems,"

and others.

Emma Theresa, the first daughter, was born and died in Milwaukee. The baby's funeral was by boat and interment was on the Durward property in that city.

Allan, afterwards Rev. James Durward of St. James' Church, St. James, Minnesota, is the owner of the Glen but continues to reside at St.

James.

Wilfred J. Durward, taxidermist, photographer, and author of "Annals of the Glen," was born in Milwaukee. For many years his home has been near Tacoma, Was.h.i.+ngton, where he married in 1919.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHAPEL AND VIEWS IN THE GLEN]

Andrew, born in Milwaukee resides near Tacoma, Was.h.i.+ngton. His marriage was solemnized in the Glen chapel.

Miss Mary Thecla Durward was born at the Glen and after many years in the state of Was.h.i.+ngton now calls Baraboo her home.

When the Durward family came from Milwaukee in a one-horse wagon in 1862, crossing the Wisconsin River at Portage, the Glen was reached on November 1, All Saint's Day. Near the trout stream which flows through the Glen and close to the first stepping-stones, is the Maltese Cross cut in the hard sandstone to commemorate their arrival. Just above is the Guardian of the Glen, a bit of art in nature's wild.

Weeping Ledge

Continuing up the stream to the boundary of the Glen property, the brook laughs over the projecting stones. Just below is the Weeping Ledge and as the author of "The Annals of the Glen" remarks; "Here one sees that the Glen is indeed

'Filled with streams forever weeping, Through the rocks in mossy rills.'"

When B. I. Durward led visitors to the spot, especially if there were young ladies in the company, he would roguishly remark: "Bathe your brow at the ledge and you will be ever beautiful." Seldom a miss neglected the opportunity.

St. Mary's of the Pines

Ascending the hill by a slender path one reaches St. Mary's of the Pines, standing on a knoll. Here occasionally there has been a baptism, a marriage, and a funeral, three important events in the life of man.

The chapel was erected by the family, neighbors and friends in 1866.

Two of the sons, James and John, said their first ma.s.s here. (James was ordained at Collegeville, Minnesota, and John at St. Francis, Milwaukee.) Charles, the artist, the father and mother, Father John, as well as others have been buried from it, and one son, Andrew, was married here.

The station shrines encircling the chapel and the cemetery are from designs by Delaroche and others. They were painted by Charles, and erected in 1889. Returning from a trip to Palestine that year, Father John brought a little soil from the site of the stations in the Via Dolorosa at Jerusalem, "and this was incorporated in these making this hill-top a veritable Holy Land."

The father, mother, and two sons sleep on the slope in front of the boulder-made church. The inscription for the elder Durward reads:

* Bernard I. Durward *

* Poet *

* Painter, Professor *

* Born *

* March 26, 1817 *

* Died *

* March 21, 1902 *

For the mother the following appears:

* Theresa M. Durward *