Back in the old days, when Cumberland was near the end of
the rail line, they used to say that it was the stop for “Cumberland, Hayward,
Hurley and Hell.” To put it nicely, Cumberland was a rough town. The roughest
of the bunch was a saloon keeper named Paulson. When the city fathers brought
in a Marshall from St. Paul to clean things up, the lawman's first act was to
challenge Paulson to fist fight. Paulson agreed to leave town if he lost the
fight. According to local lore it was classic knockdown, drag out bout, but in
the end, Paulson, who had been known as the “King of Cumberland,” was beat. He
kept his word and left town.
Ever since then, according to locals, things have been improving. The hell-raising logging boomtown has become a stable manufacturing and agricultural community, and a sought-after tourist destination. These days, Cumberland is proud to host the annual Rutabaga Festival, and if that doesn't tell you things have changed for the better, then nothing will. This festival is all about good family fun – a hot-pepper-eating contest, races, games and a parade. A town that celebrates rutabagas in this kind of style, is a town where you can feel good about raising your kids.
It's also a good place to take the kids on vacation. The downtown area of Cumberland sits on a peninsula that juts into Beaver Dam Lake; much like Minocqua to the east, it is almost completely surrounded by water. Because of this, it is also sometimes known as the “Island City.” Fifty different lakes lie within a ten-mile radius of the city center. The water is clear, the air is clean and the fishing is good. The city beach, according to local Realtor Brett Moravitz, is a particularly enjoyable place to swim.
As with any place in the northwoods, the outdoor recreation revolves around water in the warm seasons and ice and snow when it’s cold. The fishing, as mentioned, is terrific. Some of the nearby lakes are noted for muskie, though all of your typical northern fish are found here: bass, northern, walleye and panfish. The area even hosts a few trout streams, one of which flows directly into Beaver Dam lake, making it possible to catch the occasional brown trout in the lake as well. Some of the best fishing can be found in the overlooked smaller lakes of the area – water that is eighty acres or less.
Canoeing, waterskiing, swimming – all these are delightful pursuits of the Cumberland area. In the winter these pursuits give way to ice fishing, cross country skiing, snowshoeing and snowmobiling in the woods.
The area immediately around Cumberland is a kind of anomaly: here is a lake town, surrounded by other lakes, a mere ninety miles from the Twin Cities... but it is not heavily traveled tourist country. There are no major resorts nearby, although a few small operations still exist, and it is not heavily “commercialized.” Because of this, Cumberland is the kind of place people come to for peace and quiet.
There are three great ways to experience Cumberland. First, of course, is to head out there for a visit. It's not far. You can take I-94 east to 63 in Wisconsin and go north, and find it with no trouble. Highway 8 through Taylor's Falls and Turtle Lake is another easy route. There are several hotels and a Bed & Breakfast in which you can stay.
The second way to experience the Island City is to become a vacation property owner there.
Brett Moravitz of Coldwell Banker Johnson & Johnson Land Company notes that there is quite a bit of undeveloped waterfront land available for sale near Cumberland. There is also a small group of lakefront properties involved in foreclosure, which almost always means a good value for the money. Jim Coil, of Coil's Realty notes that this past year, he has sold a few lakefront homes for around $200,000. These were located on some of the smaller lakes of the area.
The third way, and the most thorough, is to move there. Coil explains that the home market is ridiculously inexpensive, compared to the Twin Cities. A high-end single family home in Cumberland, he says, could go for around $125,000. The economy is a stable mix of manufacturing, technology and agriculture. The city has a hospital and other good health care facilities. As noted, it is a good place to raise a family, or retire.
If peace and quiet at the lake is your thing, Cumberland is a place you definitely should investigate!
