Want to create an interactive transcript for this episode?
Podcast: MID-WEST FARM REPORT - MADISON
Episode: Carmen Groehler - Neitzel Homestead - Dodge County Sesquicentennial Farm
Description: The roots of our farm (today called Pine Hill Farm) run deep, tracing back to 1846 when our forefather, Christian Neitzel, homesteaded this very land, including its fertile marsh. With his wife Sophia and three sons, he journeyed here with fellow Pomeranians, driven from Trechel, Germany, by secular rule and religious persecution, seeking a new beginning in Lebanon, Wisconsin. Upon arrival, these resilient immigrants quickly constructed makeshift cabins against the harsh cold. Many learned vital survival skills, including how to build shelters and even teepees, from the local Ho-Chunk Indians. Chronicles from that era consistently describe only peaceful and...