Sometimes events align in an uncanny relation. I recently parodied a book from my youth: A Sand County Almanac, by beginning a series of posts from my childhood journal. I recalled that the book’s setting was in Wisconsin, so when we took our trip up there recently, the book was on my mind.
Then, when driving into town on a liquor run, I saw this:
Curious, I delved deeper and discovered that there is no “Sand County” in Wisconsin, at least not as a political delineation. The name is used in reference to the geographical region of Wisconsin which has sandy soil. I wondered: how far did that region extend, and was this turn of phrase in the common local lexicon–and therefore this business name being of no relation, or was this business name indeed an intentional nod to the author?
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a clear physical boundary of “Sand County”. But the Wausau region is still very glaciated and sandy, being interspersed with a lot of lakes, so I think it qualifies.
Additionally, I discovered Leopold has a historical marker. Obviously the marker would be placed in the physical region, so I input the coordinates into a map:
Wausau is about 50 miles away, and on the way home, the closest we got was 31 miles. So while I’ll never know the above business owner’s intentions, I think this concludes that we were officially in Sand County, and enjoy the historical significance for what it is.
–Simon