DANA MERRYDAY - for The Chronicle

DANA MERRYDAY Dogs and cats seem to have it pretty good in Cottage Grove. I see many dogs being led by their owners on walks all over town. We have LuLu’s Dog Park, where canines can romp off-leash and socialize…

DANA MERRYDAY/ THE CHRONICLE John Hogan planted these dawn redwood trees. While it feels good to have 2020 in the rearview mirror, it is important to reflect and remember the losses and lessons this past year has brought us. It…

Editor’s note: This is Part 2 of a two-part series on “other” Cottage Groves across the country. Cottage Grove, Minn., has its brand on street signs and water towers throughout the town. The Wisconsin Grove has become a bit of…

Visitors to Cottage Grove, Wis., are greeted by a floral display and signs. Editor’s note: This is Part 1 of a two-part series on “other” Cottage Groves across the country.  The name of our town has taken a meandering path…

DANA MERRYDAY/PHOTO The Bookmine is a community resource for charities, residents and customers – known as “unofficial city hall.” Just when it seemed that things were getting halfway back to a normal existence the virus had other ideas. Just in…

Nguyen Cottage Grove artist Uyen-Thi “T” Nguyen wasn’t the sort of person to stay in one place for very long – that is, before she landed in Cottage Grove.  She and her family decided to move here to enroll her…

The proposed plan is to create a village with the shelters on city property behind the post office, where the limb dump has been held.DANA MERRYDAY/THE CHRONICLE Major Thomas Egan was a sensitive and conflicted man. Bright, highly educated, and…

Merryday I might have bitten off more than I can chew in attempting to tell the story of Mt. David in three parts but I am going to try to cover a lot of ground this week, even at the…

Whiteman Community Park in the Northwest Neighborhood a result of the 1980-1983 HUD Block Grant. Last week we traced a few of the reasons that citizens of Cottage Grove so passionately viewed Mt. David as public space. Generations of Grovers…

PHOTOS PROVIDED/COTTAGE GROVE HISTORICAL SOCIETY The view of Cottage Grove from “The Hill,” circa 1900. Mount David, a silent witness to Cottage Grove’s birth and growth, stands over our town. It has served a variety of roles in the city’s…