TOWN OF VERMONT — Greg Herrling never dreamed his worries would include clearing brush from a trout stream and maintaining six miles of hiking trails.
Vermont Lutheran Church members Greg Herrling, left, and Peter Antonie walk part of the church's prairie in western Dane County. The church, through the creation of a legacy fund, purchased 115 acres of woods and farmland to protect against development and ensure unobstructed views.
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Greg Herrling was worried about the future of the rural church he has attended for more than 50 years. In 2018, he helped create a legacy fund that has pumped new energy into Vermont Lutheran Church with a series of projects that have engaged the now-growing congregation.
Norwegians formed what would become the Vermont Lutheran Church congregation in 1855. A wooden church was completed in 1864, and the current church was built just to the west in 1913.
Hundreds of tombstones in the Vermont Lutheran Church Cemetery have received markers with QR codes. With a scan of a cellphone camera, the QR codes provide information about those buried in the cemetery, many of whom are Norwegians who began arriving here in the mid-1800s.
Photos: Vermont Lutheran Church
Vermont Lutheran Church
Norwegians formed what would become the Vermont Lutheran Church congregation in 1855. A wooden church was completed in 1864, and the current church was built just to the west in 1913.
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Vermont Lutheran Church member Greg Herrling converses with visitors outside the church in Vermont, Wis. Thursday, April 25, 2024. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
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Vermont Lutheran Church member Greg Herrling, left, and president Aaron Tigert view church artifacts inside the church in Vermont, Wis. Thursday, April 25, 2024. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
Vermont Lutheran Church
Aaron Tigert, president of Vermont Lutheran Church since 2018, walks past a historic painting inside the church in the Vermont Lutheran Church in western Dane County.
Vermont Lutheran Church
Tracy Yaktus walks her dogs Cassie and Harold at least twice a week along the trails that wind through prairie and woods at Vermont Lutheran Church. The post holds a plaque with a Bible verse and a QR code that offers meditative thoughts, exercises, children's activities and information about nearby nature.
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A small pergola outside Vermont Lutheran Church overlooks the church’s cemetery and Legacy Prairie and Woodland in Vermont, Wis. Thursday, April 25, 2024. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
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Vermont Lutheran Church members Greg Herrling, left, and Peter Antonie walk through a future “spreading grounds” designed as a place to deposit ashes of deceased loved ones adjacent to the church in Vermont, Wis. Thursday, April 25, 2024. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
Vermont Lutheran Church
Vermont Lutheran Church members Greg Herrling, left, and Peter Antonie walk part of the church's prairie in western Dane County. The church, through the creation of a legacy fund, purchased 115 acres of woods and farmland to protect against development and ensure unobstructed views.
Vermont Lutheran Church
Greg Herrling was worried about the future of the rural church he has attended for more than 50 years. In 2018, he helped create a legacy fund that has pumped new energy into Vermont Lutheran Church with a series of projects that have engaged the now-growing congregation.
Vermont Lutheran Church
Hundreds of tombstones in the Vermont Lutheran Church Cemetery have received markers with QR codes. With a scan of a cellphone camera, the QR codes provide information about those buried in the cemetery, many of whom are Norwegians who began arriving here in the mid-1800s.
Vermont Lutheran Church
What used to be farmland is now prairie and ponds and now owned by Vermont Lutheran Church.
Vermont Lutheran Church
With six miles of hiking trails open to the public, there are plenty of places to enjoy nature at Vermont Lutheran Church. Peter Antonie, a member of the church, is seen here climbing an observation tower in a clearing atop a hill. The trails run through woods and prairie and near recently constructed retention ponds that have drawn wildlife like deer, turkey and cliff swallows.
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Vermont Lutheran Church president Aaron Tigert, pictured near an outdoor gathering space overlooking the church’s Legacy Prairie and Woodland in Vermont, Wis. Thursday, April 25, 2024. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
