Back Home Again

By guest writer, Nancy Von Meyer (nee Robertson)

During a recent visit to Platteville, I had the delightful opportunity to explore the Rountree Branch Trail. I have many memories of exploring the “creek” from the college picnic grounds and the pine forest to the treatment plant at the bottom of Greenwood Avenue to the former truck stop on Business 151. It felt like a world apart from the town, a secret garden of our own filled with adventure and water and animals and birds. 

Returning to those haunts almost 60 years later to see and explore again with my dog Duffy was a real treat. The trail is well-maintained and thoughtfully developed. It is a new gem in Platteville’s attractions. I look forward to exploring more of the trail and the connection to Belmont on my next visit. Thank you to all who had the vision and resources to build and share the trail. 

My family had a home on Greenwood Avenue, about where the Wisconsin Room is in the Karrmann Library, across from the giant catalpa tree. My dad, Jim Robertson, ran the phone company, and my mom, Eleanor, was always there for us. She would pack a lunch for our adventures to the picnic grounds and the pine forest and have snacks on the porch when we returned. 

As I grew so did my adventuring world, exploring “the west side” and powder mill with Kay Tiedemann. Even later, when I attended UW-P, those grounds and haunts remained a familiar comfort.

I currently live in a small town in South Carolina. My closest friends Kay and Tom Young, my mom’s dearest friend Ruth Jones, and childhood friends Sue and Dave Kies keep Platteville home in my heart. Coming over the rise to town is always a joy. I miss the original root beer stand and the truck stop and Scott’s Implement dealership, and one-way Main Street. 

Yet, I know time means growth and change. It is wonderful that the town has included the Rountree Branch walking and biking trail in its growth. It has given old time natives a chance to relive so many happy times and to see the new developments. Thank you to everyone who has made that possible. I look forward to more exploring on my next visit.

Nancy Von Meyer, Kay Tiedemann Young and Duffy atop the Platteville Mound