BY ANN CHRISTENSON, CHRIS DROSNER AND ARCHER PARQUETTE
Old World Wisconsin, the living history museum in Eagle depicting 19th century settlement life, seems like the quintessential fifth-grade field trip destination. But we three magazine editors – all longtime Badger State residents – had never been. Clearly, this needed to be rectified, so we planned a pilgrimage for opening weekend. As we anticipated our visit, we wondered: Would it be hokey like a renaissance fair? Or interesting and informative, like Colonial Williamsburg? Our reactions to this historic site form this running commentary:
CD: One thing I knew but that really didn’t hit home how significant it was until we were there is that these buildings are all authentic – that Pomeranian farmhouse really is from the 1860s.
AC: And that there really is a Pomerania! It’s part of what’s now Germany and Poland.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
AP: I had exclusively considered Pomeranian a canine descriptor. Who knew?
CD: The farm might have been my favorite stop. Because, piglets. But I did feel a little guilty for eating that ham sandwich for lunch earlier.
AC: Sheep and goats, too. The animals made the experience feel real.
AP: Oh, and also that farm had a three-hole outhouse! They were living in luxury.
CD: One thing that struck me, too, was how good the guides were. They really knew their stuff but didn’t, like, put on an act, you know?
AC: They seemed really engaged. I especially liked the guy at the sheep-shearing farm who introduced me to [the pig] Little Oinky.
CD: It’s cool to see these artisan things from that bygone era in practice, too. Sheep-shearing was one; the blacksmith was another. Louie [my 12-year-old stepson] really liked that part. The wildest card of the whole day was his interest in the Four Mile House and its temperance theme. Did not see that one coming!
AC: On the other end of the spectrum, we saw beer being made – and there were samples!
CD: Oh man, that was so cool to me. We think of beer being made in breweries, these industrial settings, now, but a whooole lot of it was made in farmhouses using the techniques we saw: wood fires, open fermenting. Super primitive. And the beer tastes different – unfiltered and grainy.
AP: The blacksmith was a highlight for me. The way that 2,000-degree metal set the wood on fire – top-notch. I liked the one-room schoolhouse, too, with those era-specific sample questions on the blackboard and the old-fashioned textbooks.
CD: On the way out, our tram driver pointed out the Wheelmen’s Club, and I was like, oh dude I totally want to race an old-timey high-wheel tricycle.
AC: Come back … all three of us? No ham sandwiches, though.
