By Barry Adams, Wisconsin State Journal –
TOWN OF VERMONT — Greg Herrling never dreamed his worries would include clearing brush from a trout stream and maintaining six miles of hiking trails.
When the longtime member of Vermont Lutheran Church championed the creation of a legacy fund in 2018, the goal was to raise enough money to add a half-acre to the church cemetery and have enough left over for a rainy day fund that would ensure the church property be maintained for perpetuity, whether there was a congregation or not.
The church has a history of more than 168 years on these remote hills just west of Highway 78 in western Dane County. But even before the COVID-19 pandemic, attendance had been lagging and there were concerns about the church’s viability. But something remarkable has happened in this Norwegian stronghold that has given the now-growing congregation new purpose amid an idyllic setting that will be preserved for generations to come.