Highlights Archives
Circus World, Bennett Studio Open Year Round
Most historic sites batten down the hatches and close for the season as the winter months approach. Two notable exceptions among Wisconsin's historic sites are Circus World Museum and H.H. Bennett Studio & History Center. Both sites observe winter hours throughout most of the off season, and both have unique gift shops that could make your holiday shopping a little easier — and a lot more fun. Two other historic sites, Old World Wisconsin and Villa Louis, reopen for postseason special events, offering additional holiday shopping opportunities.
Circus World's Irvin Feld Exhibit Hall and Visitor Center and five other buildings — the Ringling Bros. Ring Barn, Elephant House, Animal House, W.W. Deppe Wagon Pavilion and the C.P. Fox Wagon Restoration Center — are open weekdays throughout the off season. In these six buildings, visitors can explore the world's largest collection of handcrafted antique circus wagons one of the nation's most extensive collections of circus posters and other advertising graphics. And, should you want to delve deeply into American circus history, Circus World is home to the world's foremost research facility for circus history — the Robert L. Parkinson Library and Research Center.
Do you have a circus fan on your holiday shopping list? After browsing the exhibits, pay a visit to the museum shop for a truly unique blend of circus-themed gift items ranging from apparel, adult and children's books and custom souvenirs to music, novelties, posters, videos and DVDs. For complete details on Circus World's off-season hours, see the museum's visitor information page.
A 20-minute drive north to Wisconsin Dells takes you to the original 19th-century photography studio of H.H. Bennett, the landscape photographer whose magnificent photographs of the rugged dells of the Wisconsin River sold from coast to coast — and which in large part helped make Wisconsin Dells a major tourism destination. His stereo photographs, in particular, with their 3-D effects became popular addition to every well-outfitted Victorian parlor. To illustrate stereo photography, the studio uses both traditional handheld stereoscopes and computer terminals equipped with the latest 3-D stereo-imaging technology.
If your visit to the H.H. Bennett Studio & History Center makes you want to display one or more of his magnificent photos in your office or living room, you've come to the right place. A collection of 40 of Bennett's most famous photographs is available for purchase. For complete details on the Bennett Studio's off-season hours, see our visitor information page.
:: Posted October 30, 2006
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