Highlights Archives
Madeline Island Museum, Stonefield Set to Open
Two distinctive Wisconsin historic sites, each with its own set of fascinating stories to tell, open their doors for the 2006 season on Saturday, May 27. Madeline Island Historical Museum and Stonefield both overlook some of Wisconsin's most historic waterways — Lake Superior's Chequamegon Bay and the Mississippi River — but some of the historical tales they have to tell took place centuries apart. On Madeline Island the stories begin as far back as 1659 when the island's first recorded European visitors — Pierre-Esprit Radisson and Médard Chouart Des Groseilliers — came seeking furs to return to the warehouses of New France. At Stonefield the stories begin with Wisconsin's first governor Nelson Dewey, whose homesite overlooks the historic site's re-created 1900s rural farming village and the State Agricultural Museum.
Madeline Island Historical Museum will boast a brand new look this year, having undergone a major facelift since last season. The facilities project moved the museum's original historic buildings back onto a new foundation, creating a large outdoor courtyard within the museum's stockade fence. A new building addition connects the old museum to the modern Capser Center exhibit hall and gift shop. The Capser Center will feature a new exhibit for the 2006 season — the Crandall American Indian Doll Collection, which includes rare, handcrafted dolls created by Native American artisans representing tribes throughout North America. The museum, following a time-honored island tradition, will play a prominent role in the village of LaPointe's annual celebration of the Fourth of July, which has marked the traditional beginning of the summer season for generations of island residents and summer cottagers.
Stonefield, which holds the distinction of being the Mississippi River Parkway Commission's newest interpretive center on Wisconsin's Great River Road, is located just north of Cassville in one of Wisconsin's most scenic settings. This year Stonefield will focus its historical interpretation on the history of railroading in Wisconsin, with an all-new special event, Railroad Days, on August 19. The historic site's re-created 1900s rural farming village helps support the railroading theme; it includes a railroad depot, a caboose car, and a newly restored velocipede — a lightweight, pedal-driven vehicle with three flanged wheels used by railroad track inspectors to traverse sections of train track.
If You Go
For complete details on season dates and hours, admission fees, locator maps and contact information, visit the visitor information pages for Stonefield and Madeline Island Historical Museum.
:: Posted May 22, 2006
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