Centennial and Cake

It's hard to believe that in our state which is more than 150 years old there are still communities only celebrating their centennials. One of these was Iron Ridge. And we were there to help the village's nearly 1,000 residents bring in the second century of their existence. But it's not like the community is really that young. The first settlers to the area came in 1847. It just took 66 years and several name changes before Iron Ridge was incorporated as a village in 1913.

Four iron mines were active in the Iron Ridge area from the 1850s to 1915 producing millions of tons of mid- to high-grade iron ore. Thus the name of the village.

Weekend centennial festivities included a car show but when we arrived at Fireman's Park, we only saw about a half dozen classic vehicles. The rain probably kept people away. So we headed to the village hall/police station/library where we viewed a display of centennial memorabilia and a scaled village made of Legos.

The railroad station. Back in 1913 there was probably a lot of activity here. 

The re-creation....

and the original.

Something about the message of the bank's 1920 greeting caught my eye. When was the last time you received a Christmas letter from the bank's cashier? I suspect that back in the day the cashier was probably more like a branch manager.

We stayed at Ledge Park and had company for Saturday dinner. Rick found a recipe for making cake in an orange. The cake batter is poured into a hollowed out orange, wrapped in foil, and baked over the fire. Thanks to Amanda who scraped out the oranges and her dad, Paul, who did such a nice job with the fire to create just the right bed of embers. Yummy. Definitely a dessert to make again. However, next time we'll put a bit of chocolate in the cake batter and use another layer of foil to wrap the oranges. It's also a good idea to have mixed fruit or fresh-squeezed orange juice for breakfast the next morning. Wouldn't want all those good orange insides to go to waste.

The foil protects the orange from burning too badly. We baked our
oranges for 15 minutes and the cake was done perfectly.

The cake batter is simple: 4 oz. butter or margarine, 4 oz.
sugar, 4 oz. self-rising flour, and 2 eggs. Cream the
butter and sugar, beat in the eggs, add the flour, and mix
until smooth. Makes enough to fill 5 medium sized oranges.

A storm blew in later in the evening but we managed to take down the trailer's awning and secure everything under cover before the wind and the rain began. Once again, I missed my opportunity to take a picture of the trailer with its new awning. Next time.

We're looking forward to the first week in July when we will explore east central and central Wisconsin. And maybe try some more new campfire recipes.