History of the Pendarvis Restoration

Pendarvis House, left, served as a
Cornish restaurant for 35 years.

In 1935, Robert Neal and Edgar Hellum saw Mineral Point's history and heritage teetering on the brink of oblivion, and they decided to preserve what they could of its most tangible symbols — the stone cottages built by early 19th-century Cornish immigrants. Neal had just returned from London to find many of the old rock dwellings had vanished in his absence. He struck up a friendship with Hellum, who shared his interest in the old houses, and together they determined to save at least one. Neal and Hellum acquired and rehabilitated not one, but several, of the original structures.

Following the Cornish tradition of giving a name to each house, they called their first restoration Pendarvis, after an estate in Cornwall. They gave the other houses curious Cornish names too — next Polperro, then Trelawny. Later they would acquire and restore a rowhouse just up the hill. In need of a livelihood to support their continuing work on the restoration, Neal and Hellum established the Pendarvis House Restaurant, specializing in Cornish pasties and earning an international reputation for authentic Cornish fare.  They operated the restaurant for 35 years before retiring. In 1970, the Wisconsin Historical Society acquired the property and the next year began operating the restoration as a historic site interpreting the history of Cornish settlement and Wisconsin's lead-mining heyday.