Casco, WI

Casco Junction is an unincorporated community in the Town of Luxemburg, in Kewaunee County's farm-and-rail country. Its name makes the map clear: this was the southern terminus of the Ahnapee and Western Railway, where the line connected with routes toward Luxemburg, Algoma, Sturgeon Bay, and Kewaunee. The old railroad grade now carries the Ahnapee State Trail, and the junction at Harold Reckelberg Park remains a recognizable trail meeting point.

The trail runs 48 miles through Door and Kewaunee counties on crushed limestone, following a rail corridor that once moved freight and people through the county. Today Casco Junction's role is less about trains arriving than paths crossing: cyclists, hikers, horseback riders, snowmobilers, and people heading into nearby Casco use the same old line. The surrounding farms and scattered buildings keep the community rural, while the trail gives it a connection extending far beyond its small footprint. Casco Junction is a railroad place with its second life written directly over the first.