Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
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of historical sites. Ironically, two miles to the north, Victory was named in honor of Black
Hawk's defeat.
Ferryville
Just north of Ferryville are the wonderful 2,500 acres of the
Rush Creek State Natural
Area,
with incredible views from its trails; there are rattlers about, however, so be careful.
Ferryville has a fairly long main street itself—it is in point of fact recognized as the longest
in any town or village with only one street. (Apocryphal or not, the more colorful stor-
ies tell it that local laws allowed for the dispensation of liquor only every mile; saloon-
keepers dutifully measured exactly one mile between each.) They should have kept the
original name—Humble Bush—because that's sure what it is today. Ferryville's got your
best cheese pickings at
Ferryville Cheese
(WIS 35, 608/734-3121, 5am-10pm Mon.-Sat.,
8am-9pm Sun.), with more than 100 varieties to pick from. It's also a good spot to pick up
Amish or country-style quilts, and stop by the
Swing Inn
(106 Main St., 608/734-9916)
to get a peek at the four-foot-plus rattlesnake skin, taken from surrounding hills, which
are rumored to be rife with rattlers; the tavern is also purportedly haunted. The village al-
lows free camping in the town park, or there is the
Mississippi Humble Bush B&B
(148
Main St., 608/734-3022, $65), which has four rooms and a large loft for dorm-style group
lodging.
(One note: Lovely little Ferryville has been noted by certain obsessive websites that fret
about such things as having quite a few, er, driving citations for its size.)
After this, it's nine more miles of railroad accompaniment. WIS 35 runs through a his-
torical recreation area and more old river towns, or you can jump onto county roads east to
loop through rolling hills for some S-curve road routes to classic southwestern Wisconsin
river villages. This is the area to pull out the county road maps and snoop around atop the
bluff lines; lots of grand river vistas are apparent north of Lynxville.
Side Trips
NotquitehalfwaytoLynxville,headeast13milesalongWIS171throughMt.Sterlinginto
the topography of green gumdrops that the region is known for. Mount Sterling has little
other than a cheese factory specializing in award-winning goat cheese. Another unknown
Wisconsin writer—Ben Logan—grew up in the surrounding coulees and wrote a touching
memoir,
The Land Remembers.
Eventually, you'll come to
Gays Mills,
legendary for its
apple orchards. Just after the turn of the 20th century, the state of Wisconsin scoured the
southern tier of the state for promising orchards in which to plant experimental apple trees.
