Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
this was among Wisconsin's first African American communities. The complex is so big
that trams ($2) make a circuit continuously.
Despite this, attendance has been plummeting. New proposals to incite interest include
relocating an original Wisconsin beerhouse here, constructing a Native American village,
and even loosing buffalo and elk on site. Worse, in 2010 a massive tornado hit the grounds,
causing a worrisome amount of damage; you'll be able to see damage for some time (espe-
cially a sad dearth of trees now).
Very popular is the
Clausing Barn Restaurant,
an octagonal 1897 barn designed by
a Mequon immigrant. It offers casual cafeteria-style dining with an emphasis on heritage
cuisine.
Bisected by the Rock River, which flows sluggishly south and west of town into Lake
Koshkonong, the town was hastily erected by soldiers during the 1832 Black Hawk War.
Dairyingtrulyputthetownonthemap.WilliamDempsterHoard,thesortofpatronsaintof
Wisconsin's dairy industry, began
Hoard's Dairyman,
a newsletter-cum-magazine, here in
1873. Fort Atkinson is a trim slice of Americana. It's been called by
Money
magazine one
of the “hottest” small towns in the country.
MM
Hoard Historical Museum and Dairy Shrine
No visit to America's Dairyland would be complete without a look-see at the
Hoard
Historical Museum
(407 Merchants Ave., 920/563-7769,
www.hoardmuseum.org
,
9:30am-4:30pm Tues.-Sat. June-Labor Day, shorter hours the rest of the year, free), housed
in a Gothic revival/mission oak-style mansion. The museum displays a restoration of the
Dwight Foster House—the area's first frame house, built in 1841—along with two rooms
of exhibits, the anchors of which are an extensive, 15,000-piece Native American artifact
collection—so extensive the Smithsonian once eyed it—and a wealth of information on the
Black Hawk War. Even Abe Lincoln, who traveled through the county in 1832 with the mi-
litia chasing Black Hawk, gets a fairly impressive exhibit.
HER LIFE BY WATER
AbsolutelyunknowntoWisconsinites—exceptthoseinherhometownofFortAtkin-
son—Lorine Niedecker's simplistic, haiku-like poetry celebrating life and place
