Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Equally historic is the wonderfully original 1846 B&B
M
Wisconsin House Stage
Coach Inn
(2105 Main St., 608/854-2233,
www.wisconsinhouse.com
,
$65-125), a multi-
level abodeframedinnative oakwithclapboard sidingandsixoversixwindows.TheWis-
consin House Inn, lore has it, was the only thing left standing after an 1876 tornado leveled
everything else in the village.
West of Hazel Green along WIS 11 and Highway Z, Mazzuchelli also founded a men's
college, now home to
Motherhouse of Sinsinawa Dominica
(608/748-4411), high upon
Sinsinawa Mound (a sheer rise of Niagara dolomite), with awesome vistas. Some buildings
date from the 1840s; the complex also has an exhibit on Father Mazzuchelli, a sustainable
agricultural farm, and, best of all, a great bakery.
Darlington
This impeccably preserved anachronism along the Pecatonica River features wide streets
andahostofextantpreservedarchitecture.The
Lafayette County Courthouse
(627Wash-
ington St.) is the only courthouse in the United States built using the funds of a solitary
individual; note the lovely rotunda with Tiffany glass. And, foot for foot, there is arguably
more mural space in this courthouse than any other in the state. Alexander Hamilton's son
stakedaclaiminDarlingtonin1828;later,FortHamiltonbecameoneoftheoldestperman-
ent settlements in the state (a marker on WIS 78 shows where).
Nine miles north of Darlington is the
Prairie Springs Hotel,
one of the earliest build-
ings in the region. It's one of the most unusual, well built in the southern vernacular style
by an early miner turned soldier and local leader.
Green County might as well be called “Little Switzerland.” The Swiss culture shows itself
most prominently in New Glarus, an amazing alpine-esque village. In Monroe, farther
south, world-famous swiss cheese comes thanks to a substrata of limestone soil, allowing a
certain digestive process by which cows produce creamy gold.
In the 1930s, Monroe cheesemaking had grown so prodigious that a postmaster in Iowa
grew weary of the waftings of ripe Monroe limburger passing through his tiny post office.
The Depression-era WPA guide captured the moment:
Cheese was stoutly defended when Monroe's postmaster engaged in a sniffing
duel with a postmaster in Iowa to determine whether or not the odor of Limbur-
