Ashland, Wisconsin

It’s a small town of about 8,000 people. There’s an Environmental Liberal Arts college there called Northland College. There’s also a vegan coffeehouse called The BlackCat that is totally vegan and it’s like the best environment for poetry and reading, or homework even-plus great organic food. Right next door there’s a natural food co-op. All the college students are way nice and there are no cliques. It’s like one huge family there.

They have this community program with “Sunshine Bikes.” It’s to stop pollution and all and give people a better taste of community and sharing. It’s a great place that has changed my life and it could for others!

0 thoughts on “Ashland, Wisconsin

  1. My bro went to school at Northland, and i grew up in northern Wisconsin.
    The hippie scene in that neck of the woods is there, and the people
    are very original and ingeneous.

  2. Ashland is way up in the Northwest corner of the state… looks like around Superior. I’ve never been there but I looked it up on a map.

  3. my sister goes to northland college in ashland
    i have gone up and visited her and her friends numerous times and they are all great people…..its in a run of the mill (backward) little midwestern town….but it seems like the community has really grown the accept the kids for what they are…good, friendly, caring, motivated people who are doing thier best to enjoy life and help as many people as possible along the way
    this, to me, is inspiring……and fills me with hope for the future
    “Without hippie culture, where would we be?”

  4. I graduated from Northland in ’94. Ashland’s a great town. For those who were asking, it’s in NorthWest Wisconsin on the Chequamegon Bay of Lake Superior. About 70 miles due east of Duluth, MN.

    This site is a trip. Every hippie cliche I’ve ever heard, here for the mocking…

  5. I go to northland and it is a very chill spot most of the poeple therer are fun and loving. If you go there in the summer you should check out bayfield. That is where most people go and stay durring the summer. But if you choose to travel to Northland and need a place to sleep or just wnat to hang out with some chill people the sunshine house is totally the place to go. It is town house number one on campus. You dont have to knock just come right on in we will be waiting for you. Durring the shcool year there are coffe house’s on wednesday nights. where there will be some type of mucisian or something going on with coffe. If you show up on campuse there will posters about it so have fun. and remember “that life flows on within you and wihtout you”

  6. Don’t go to Northland!!!!!!!!!! Ashland is anything but a hippy haven in my opinion. I go to Ashland High School and let me tell you from experience that almost none of the people there accept or like the hippies at Northland. The Black Cat is pretty cool as well as the co-op, but I wouldn’t recommend going to school there. sorry to rain on your parade but if you are looking at Northland…….don’t go!!!!!!

  7. I was born and raised in Hippieville, Ashland and I loved every minute of it. It was a great place to be raised. We were very free with very little crime. People are still great when I come home. Ashland will always and forever be home. The people are friendly and if you need any help someone will always give you a hand. It isn’t as safe anymore I am sure times have changed but I know if there were more jobs I would be home again.

  8. Ashland may be a great place if you are lily white and hang out with the “right crowd!” I lived there for seven years and was bullied, harassed, and beaten up for no other reasons then not being “the right color!” I had gone to another school prior and ended up graduating from another high school and did not experience the hell I went through in Ashland! I do have fond memories of Northland though! I took swimming lessons there and played in the gym. Also was it called the Boars Head? Had the best cheesburgers! Once I was at the Library and out in the courtyard there was a small band playing. It was the early 80’s but they and their fans looked like something out of the late 60’s San Francisco!

  9. Ashland was a pretty good place to grow up, IMHO. and northern wisconsin definitely has a wild art/music/hippie scene. Floyd E. Queeb, Baystock, the Big Top Chautaqua, the list goes on and on. Very environmentally-minded.

    Some town/college non-interaction, but it gets better all the time.

    Too bad my mom is moving and i’ll probably never get back

  10. Ashland is a great town, very friendly and very cool. I don’t know what it was like in the early 80’s, but nowadays, it doesn’t matter what color you are. The college is very cool and very environmentally minded (in fact the Sigrid Olson Institute is located there) and the town is also very cool. The jam band Floydian Slip is from that area, and plays there often when they are not touring around. People are totally friendly, lots of vegan options and it sits right on the biggest lake in the world. What more could anyone want? I have lived there and worked there for 15 years and couldn’t be happier.

  11. I am not a hippie but truly enjoyed this website and the comments. You see, I grew up in Ashland and graduated from Northland College. Growing up in Ashland was the greatest. No crime and free living. Northland College is fantastic. All people are accepted for who they are and everyone is friendly. I agree with the one person who said the community/college interaction and acceptance is improving. I think the community at large is finally realizing what a gem Northland College is! If you like small town living and the outdoors, Ashland and Northland College is for you!

  12. As for Northland and Ashland, I agree they are great places. I graduated from Northland in May of 2003. I couldn’t have asked for a better college experience. I’m a city girl, who found herself transplanted into a world she knew nothing about, except she loved it.
    The small school is supportive and lovely. I was given the opportunity to do whatever I wanted.
    When I left Ashland in June of 2003, I cried and cried. My bar, The Deep Water, was like Cheers and everyone there was holding me up. When I go back home to visit, I feel complete again… I hope someday I can have this feeling again.
    By the way- The Black Cat is not Vegan– it is vegetarian though!

  13. I went to Northland back in 1966-67 before hippies. The Science building was just opening and Fenega Hall was new that year. Northland had a football team but not very good. Many of the students were from NY and NJ just going to Northland to avoid the draft. There was a great little bar called Cabbies that just sold beer. It was packed every weekend since 18 was the drinking age. That year Northland offered a course called “Ecology” and not many people knew what the word ment. It sounds like it has come a long way. Oh there was a Chemistry professor that worked on the Manhatten project and made the Atom bomb. I enjoyed the small town but left for NYC after only one year and one winter at 44 degrees below zero.

  14. I attended Northland in 1984-1986 and was introduced to Floyd E. Queeb, ‘eating the worm’ and pinkball! I made the best friends in my life in Ashland and miss everything about it except the misquitos and ticks! Even had a spiritual experience with some hippie friends during an awsome display of the Aurora when a meteor came crashing into the atmosphere! I’ll never forget my times there! It was a great place to gain independence!

  15. I graduated Ashland High School in 1964. After release from the military in 1970, I hung out with the Northland hippies(still am one) to get my head back together(‘Nam vet). An oz was $12.00. Does anybody know how to reach a Northland alumni by the name of Ralph Brome?I miss my hometown. A Madison resident since ’71. Best wishes and peace to all.JK

  16. ashland is a picturesque little town on the northernmost point of wisconsin. i went to northland college for two years and left for no apparent reason. i loved that little town and yes most the people are happy go lucky hippy schnoogles. you should visit if you are ever in the area. i am not sure if they still do it but when i was there they had an amazing summer venue called big top chataqua. good place good acts. and the ice cream at the dairy is not honor system.

  17. I’m a high schooler at washburn. Ashland seems like a very conflicting town, at the moment. There are a lot of peaceful, accepting, open minded people there. However, there are also a lot of ignorant rednecks. IE: people that vote republican because it’s “what their parents vote”.

    Unfortunately, Ashland’s local population has a lot of pricks in it. Northland itself is an excellent place to go, but I really don’t reccomend trying our local public school system.

  18. Hey I live in Park Falls and absolutly love chillin at the Black Cat. I also stop at the co-op quite frequently to pick up some tea. I hope the black pussy stays in business for a long time. That’s what keeps A-town alive!

  19. I went to Northland in the early to mid 90’s. I had a great time living in Ashland. There should be an awsome party coming up soon. I don’t know if it still happens, but it is called Floyd E. Queeb. It should be occuring at 10:28 on 10/28. If you’re in living in Ashland you should go to this party. I live in North Carolina now and I always think of the good times I had at Queeb when this time of year rolls around.

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