Old World Wisconsin

Beautiful weather (hot, but no rain!) enticed us to hop the bike for a 30 minute ride through beautiful countryside just southwest of Milwaukee.

We spent a sticky but pleasurable day rambling around Old World Milwaukee, a living history complex of a village, homesteads, and farms settled by  Irish, Yankee (English speaking protestant), Finnish, Danish, Norwegian, Pomeranian, Polish, and Hessian (German) immigrants from 1880 to 1910.

We spent a lot of time talking to costumed interpreters who were busy with various activities such as blacksmithing (our first lady blacksmith),

cooking,

spinning wool into yarn

and making beer.  

You start with hops (climbing the poles) and barley in the field.

I was surprised to find hops look like lacy light green leaves.

The hops and barley go through different stages

then water and other things are added, heated, and cooled before being fermented to the final product.  Quite the process.

When we weren't learning from interpreters, we were poking around the various buildings.  As the townspeople and farmers grew more prosperous, the buildings became larger, more ornate and more numerous.

The complex is family friendly.  There are many houses where people can walk through and handle objects, including several toys and games.  There were several babies too.

People can take trams around each area and from one area to another, with well informed drivers giving out tidbits of history about the area and people.  We opted to walk around each area and from the village to the Scandinavian homesteads so that we could visit each building.  We rode the tram to the farming area then walked back to the bike.  In total, we walked less than 1 1/2 miles.

Back home and tired, 

Louise and Duane