Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Here, you're so close to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan that it'd be a shame not to
indulge in that epicurean delight of the Yoopers, the pasty. As a half-Yooper, I can claim
that Hurley's cafés and diners make the closest approximation to a pasty as you'll find in
Wisconsin.
The
Liberty Bell Chalet
(1095thAve.,715/561-3753,dinnerdaily,lunchMon.-Thurs.,
$6-12)—I've never not heard it as “The Bell”—has been dishing up Italian and American
for nearly a century; most go for the pizza. Don't be shocked: You can get sophisticated
foodinatowninthemiddleofaminingrangeat
Kimball Inn
(154Hwy.2,715/561-4095,
dinner Tues.-Sun., from $12). The only downside is that they close up shop in winter.
Information
Visit the
Hurley Chamber of Commerce
(316 Silver St., 715/561-4334,
www.hurleywi.com
)
for information on the area.
Montreal
Along the way to Montreal, note exceedingly diminutive Pence, with more than 20 log
structures of all sorts visible from the road. This is one of the largest concentrations of such
architecture in Wisconsin.
Once peopled by company miners living in squat white shotgun shacks, Montreal today
is a living microcosm of the area's heritage. Long ago it was the site of the world's deep-
est iron ore mine, memorialized with a marker along WIS 77. Once the only completely
planned and platted company town in Wisconsin, the whole place is on the National Re-
gister of Historic Places. Mining is gone but not forgotten—it lives on west of town in the
only extant mining head frame, the
Plummer Mine Headframe.
Eighty feet tall and im-
posing as ever, it's one of the truer pieces of history you'll see around. An interpretive park
surrounds it, highlighted by the
Cary Building,
the art deco main office of the mine.
Accommodations in Montreal include
The Inn
(104 Wisconsin Ave., 715/561-5180,
$85), a 1913 B&B built by the Montreal Mining Company for workers. It has lovely interi-
ors and fantastic hosts. A couple of other historic dwellings are now quasi-B&Bs as well.
