North Country History with Rob Burg
Your podcast on the Forest History of the Great Lakes Region. The forests of the Great Lakes have been home to people for centuries and have provided great resources and wealth, shelter, food, and recreation for many. But in the wake of these uses, the region has been environmentally damaged from deforestation, fire, and erosion, and are still recovering to this day. I will be your guide for exploring the forests and sharing stories of the forests and the people who have called them home.
About Rob Burg: Hi! I'm an environmental historian specializing on the forest history of the Great Lakes Region. I am a mostly lifelong Michigan resident and studied at Eastern Michigan University for both my undergraduate degree in History and graduate studies in Historic Preservation. My 35-year professional life has mostly been in history museums, including the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, the Michigan History Museum, and the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer. I began my environmental history career with managing both the Hartwick Pines Logging Museum and the Civilian Conservation Corps Museum for the Michigan History Museum system, directing the Lovells Museum of Trout Fishing History, archivist for the Devereaux Memorial Library in Grayling, Michigan, and as the Interpretive Resources Coordinator for the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer in Grand Island, Nebraska. I am proud that the first person to ever call me an environmental historian was none other than Dr. William Cronon, the dean of American Environmental History.
North Country History with Rob Burg
What the Heck is a Hodag?
Like Paul Bunyan and his companion, Babe the Blue Ox, agropelters, side hill gougers, and squonks, the Hodag was a mythical being found in the forests of the North Country. The Hodag was "discovered" by Eugene Shepard of Rhinelander, Wisconsin in 1896 and aided in its creation by Luke "Lakeshore" Kearney, a skilled woodcarver and storyteller. Like many of these tall tales and mythical beasts, the hodag was ferocious and always hungry. And in Rhinelander, much beloved. I encountered my first several hodags in Rhinelander on my recent visit on my 2025 Podcast Tour. If you find yourself in this former lumbertown on the banks of the Wisconsin River, see how many hodags you might encounter. And visit the Pioneer Park Logging Museum, which has been preserving Rhinelander's lumber heritage since 1932, making it the oldest lumber museum in the United States.
Episode Sources:
Cox, William, Henry Tryon, Lake SHore Kearney; compiled and edited by Matt Lake. Hodags and Billdads and Squonks. Parnilus Media: Media, PA. 2021.
Kortenhof, Kurt. Long Live the Hodag: The Life and Legacy of Eugene Simeon Shepard, 1854-1923. Hodag Press: Savage, MN. 2023 (second edition).
Places to Visit:
Pioneer Park Historical Complex, Rhinelander, Wisconsin https://rhinelanderpphc.com/
To Support the Podcast, go to this link: https://northcountryhistorywithrobburg.buzzsprout.com/2422296/supporters/new