Looking out the window of my office in Madison, it’s cold outside. But I invite you to imagine a warm, sunny day with me. It’s mid-afternoon, and we slide into the pickup truck to drive down a few country roads with my grandfather. With a contagious laugh and a few quick-witted jokes, he tells a story about his friends who used to live next door that he played euchre with. They’ve since moved, and their house no longer sits a mile from his. The reality he describes—where towns, churches, and homesteads are dwindling—is one we see across rural America.

Loka Ashwood is a professor in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at UW–Madison. After a personal revelation of her own, she began a project to help document these lost homes across Wisconsin. Her hope is to help people better know rural history so they can grow a love for the places that make rural living vibrant.