Wisconsin Attractions Guide

Central

Weidner Center For Performing Arts - The Weidner Center has received rave reviews from performers and audiences alike. Its outstanding acoustics, physical beauty and state-of-the-art accommodations combine to make it one of the finest performing halls in the United States.

Ellwood H. May Environmental Park - This unique, diverse park offer 120 acres of forests, wetlands and prairie with ponds, river and an abundance of wildlife. Miles of free trails are perfect for birding, hiking and skiing with some being handicap accessible. The Ecology Center, Prairie Overlook and Environmental Lab allow for dozens of natural history program offerings to school and tour groups of all ages.

Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum - The Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, north central Wisconsin's premier art museum, features special exhibitions, dynamic education programs, collections rooted in bird imagery, and sculpture-filled gardens to delight visitors of all ages.

Above & Beyond Children's Museum - Above & Beyond Children's Museum offers hands-on fun for kids. The museum features a treehouse, Skycrawl, computer lab, pin screen and more.

Historic Point Basse - Historic Point Basse preserves the 1850s site and remaining structures of the settlement that once thrived here. Located at the south end of the extensive rapids of the Wisconsin River in what are now Portage and Wood Counties, Robert Wakely's settlement at Point Basse was an important stopping place for lumber rafts as they headed down river.

John Michael Kohler Arts Center - A 33-year-old, nationally acclaimed visual and performing arts complex, JMKAC is devoted to innovative explorations in contemporary American art. Its exhibitions focus on a wide range of concepts and directions, with particular emphasis on new genres, installation art, unconventional photography, the crafts, ongoing folk traditions, and the work of self-taught artists.

Houdini Historical Center - The Houdini Historical Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to gathering, interpretation, and dissemination of information and artifacts related to the life and career of Harry Houdini.

Woodland Dunes Nature Center - Woodland Dunes is an oasis of marshland, swamps, sandy fields and meadows and wooded ridges between Manitowoc and Two Rivers, Wisconsin. Enjoy the sight of waxy, yellow buttercups, hear the clear,whistled notes of an oriole, feel the swish of the wind through the hemlocks or feel the soft breast feathers of a bluebird at the bird banding station

Deke Slayton Memorial Space & Bike Museum - The Deke Slayton Memorial Space & Bike Museum is dedicated to enhancing an understanding and encouraging an interest and appreciation in the history of bicycling and the life of astronaut Donald ""Deke"" Slayton.

Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum - The Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum displays of 1.5 million pieces of wooden type and type-making equipment.

Grand Opera House - A restored Victorian theater, The Grand was built in 1883 and renovated during the 1980s. This beautiful facility is owned by the City of Oshkosh and has been managed by the Oshkosh Opera House Foundation since 1990. Each year, nearly 25 public performances and approximately 30 youth events comprise the fine arts season with another 100 activities.

Paul Bunyan Logging Camp - The facility features an interpretive center containing the new Interactive Tall Tales Room for the child in all of us, and many other buildings authentic to the 1900's logging era including a bunkhouse, cook shanty, heavy equipment building, blacksmith shop, barn and other exhibit rooms. And a larger than life statues of the legendary Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, Babe.

Neville Public Museum - The Museum offers two floors of galleries waiting to be explored. The Walter Gallery is one of three major halls for changing exhibits. On the second floor, the Frankenthal Gallery offers a panoramic view of the Fox River and Green Bay skyline. The Byram-Manger, and WPS Galleries along with the Mezzanine are devoted to additional changing art, history, and science exhibits.

Children's Museum Of La Crosse - The museum is a hands-on, interactive environment; a regional family place where the young and the young at heart can explore, create, experiment, learn and exercise their imaginations.

National Railroad Museum - Railroad history comes to life with 77 pieces of vintage rolling stock including Eisenhower's WWII command car, the Union Pacific ""Big Boy"" and the Rock Island ""Aerotrain."" In addition, enjoy a ride behind vintage diesel locomotives or be entertained in the theater with one of many railroad-theme video presentations.

Lake Michigan Carferry Service - Daily round trips across Lake Michigan from Manitowoc to Ludington, Michigan, aboard historic 410' carferry S.S. BADGER. One-way trip takes four hours. Ship carries cars, motor homes, buses, bikes and passengers. Enjoy dining, gift shop, entertainment, lounge and berths on board.

Barlow Planetarium - This is a world-class facility for 3-D excitement, giant full-color special effects and crystal-clear, five-channel, 10,000 watt THX surround sound. The Barlow Planetarium has a 48-foot projection dome and seats 98 people, with four additional spaces for wheelchair access.

Chippewa Valley Museum - The Chippewa Valley Museum includes award-winning, professionally designed exhibits about the Ojibwe Indians (also known as the Ojibwa, Ojibway, or Chippewa), the area's first towns and industries, early farm life, and a variety of short-term and traveling exhibits.

Thrasher's Opera House - Built in 1910, Thrasher's Opera House hosted vaudeville, traveling theatrical companies and films. After WWII the building languished as a warehouse until its restoration in the mid-1990s. Features include an embossed tin ceiling, stencilled walls and a projection balcony.

Eaa Airventure Museum - EAA AirVenture Museum features historic civilian and military aircraft, exhibits and plane rides.

Capitol Civic Centre - The Capitol Civic Centre is the gathering spot for over 70,000 people each year and the focal point of the performing arts on Wisconsin's East Coast. The theatre is a stunning example of an opulent 1920's vaudeville and movie house, exquisitely renovated and grandly reopened in 1987, now showcasing live stage productions by professional traveling artists and local performing groups.

Mabel Tainter Memorial Theatre - The Mabel Tainter Memorial Theater is a fully functional Victorian era theater with a year round performing arts season featuring nationally recognized artists.

North

Marion Amazement Park - A permanent 30,000 square foot series of walkways, towers and platforms that twist through the maze. Built of lumber and walkways, and walkways are made of pea gravel. There are only 5 others like it in US. maze changes every 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month.

North Lakeland Discovery Center - Situated in the heart of Northern Wisconsin's Lakeland area, this multi-functional center's mission is to explore the region's natural, cultural and historical resources through recreation, field experience, study, discussion and display.

Northwoods Children's Museum - The Northwoods Children's Museum located at 346 W. Division Street in Eagle River, enriches lives and strengthens families. The Museum provides hands-on exhibits and programs that make learning fun.

Peninsula Players - The Peninsula Players offers a unique combination of beautiful surroundings, great plays, and wonderful actors.

St. Croix Festival Theatre - The St. Croix Festival Theatre offers a variety of plays throughout the year.

American Folklore Theatre - The mission of the American Folklore Theatre is to develop and present professional dramatic productions of a cultural and/or educational nature which will further the knowledge and appreciation of the heritage of the United States through creation, development, publication, and presentation in live or recorded form, of dramatic and musical works of art.

Birch Creek Music Performance Center - Birch Creek is a unique summer music school and concert venue located on Wisconsin?s beautiful Door County peninsula. For more than a quarter of a century, it has been summer home to outstanding young musicians and some of the country's top performers and music educators, who teach by day and perform by night in the rural campus? 500-seat concert hall.

Cana Island Lighthouse - Walk across the rock causeway from the Door County mainland to the island. Step inside the keeper's house where, beginning in 1869, the first of a number of lighthouse keepers tended to the light which guided sailors and protected them from the dangerous shoals extending out from the island into Lake Michigan.

International Snowmobile Hall Of Fame - The International Snowmobile Hall of Fame is dedicated to preserving and showcasing the rich and exciting history of snowmobiling at both the recreational and competitive levels through the operation of a museum, hall of fame and library for the sport.

Door County Maritime Museum At Gills Rock - The newly remodeled facility features the fishing tug ""Hope"" built in 1930 by sturgeon Bay Boat Works (currently Palmer Johnson. The Museum also features new exhibits on shipwrecks and lifesaving including a lyle gun used to rescue mariners from shipwrecks. The Ted Berch model collection of 20 Great Lakes vessels.

Lumberjack Village - Lumberjack Village is the home to the World champion lumberjacks as seen on Television. Within the complex, visitors can visit the Hayward Arena, The Lake Cafe, and eight individual Specialty Shops.

Peck's Wildwood Wildlife Park - Peck's Wildwood is home to over 500 animals and birds including; wolf, black bear, elk, bobcat, buffalo, deer, mountain lion, wallaby, coatimundi, emu, ring-tailed lemur, African spurred tortoise, eagle, birds of the world, and much, much more!

Big Top Chautauqua - Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua (LSBTC) is a year round non profit performing arts organization. LSBTC operates an intimate 780 seat capacity, all professional tent theater, producing and presenting a seventy-plus night summer season of concerts, plays, lectures, and original, illuminated historical musicals.

Carl's Wood Art Museum - The museum displays amazing works of wood art such as a 14 ft., 5000 lb. Grizzly bear that meets you when you enter Carl's Wood Art Museum. There is also a replica of a trappers cabin. Stop in the Translucent Room to see thinly cut pieces of wood called veneer, see a revolving water wheel an much more.

The Fairfield Art Museum - The museum's galleries permanent collection features works of renowned English sculptor and artist Henry Moore - including maquettes and drawings that reveal the seeds of his ideas for sculptures. Visitors can also view traveling exhibits and the paintings and drawings of such international artists as Wassily Kandinski , Alberto Giacometti, Fernand Leger and others.

Door Off Broadway Dinner Theatre - Door Off Broadway Dinner Theatre offers the finest in Broadway musicals and comedies in a dinner theatre venue.

The Hideout - Closed and tightly guarded by imported gangland guns since it was carved from the stately pine and hardwood forest in the early 1920's, this scenic northwoods retreat of Chicago's most notorious gangster of the Roaring 1920's now reveals its secrets to the public.

National Fresh Water Fishing Hall Of Fame - The world's largest fishing museum includes a 5-story building shaped like a musky, hundreds of mounted trophy fish, a research library, 30,000 sq. feet of displays of antique and classic fishing artifacts, 500 outboards, 800 reels, 6,000 lures, hundreds of rods and varied fishing accessories. Video fishing theater. Boat and motor display building and six acres of landscaped grounds.

Door County Maritime Museum In Sturgeon Bay - Experience the nautical history of Door County in this 20,000 square foot facility located on Sturgeon Bay's historic waterfront. Galleries offer exhibits on area lighthouses, shipbuilding, salvage operations, antique motors and marina history.

Sunset Concert Cruises - Sunset Concert Cruises offer Jazz, Dixieland, Classical and Folk concerts aboard the Island Clipper while touring the waters of Green Bay and Lake Michigan off the tip of the northern Door County Peninsula.

Lumberjack Special Steam Train & Camp Five Museum - History comes alive when you ride the Rails of Yesteryear. Board the Lumberjack Special steam train to Camp Five. Discover logging lore at the outstanding Museum complex and Blacksmith Shop. Surrey through the forest. Take the Rat River Natural Wildlife Tour. Stroll the Ecology Walk and visit the Nature Center. There's something for everyone at Camp Five!

Waswagoning - Waswagoning is a 20 acre outdoor recreated Indian village on the Lac du Flambeau Reservation.

South

Discovery World Museum - Let your imagination soar as your hands explore over 150 custom-designed, fully interactive exhibits located on two entire floors of this architecturally stunning museum.

East Troy Electric Railroad Museum - The East Troy Electric Railroad runs from Mukwonago to East Troy in southeast Wisconsin. Built in 1907 by the Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light Company, it continues in its 94th year as a living shortline as well as a museum.

Wisconsin Historical Museum - Wisconsin exhibits from prehistoric Indian culture to contemporary social issues.

Yerkes Observatory - The observatory was bankrolled in 1897 by Charles Tyson Yerkes, a Chicago transportation tycoon. The plan itself was masterminded by George Ellery Hale. The showpiece of the observatory was then, and still is, the 40-in refractor, in 1897 the world's largest telescope and even today the largest refracting telescope.

Storybook Gardens - Meet live storybook characters and stroll the beautifully landscaped fantasy world. A must see family attraction, with rides, animated displays, animals, and live performers.

Betty Brinn Children's Museum - The purpose of the Betty Brinn Children's Museum is to enrich the lives of all children and their families through hands-on learning experiences in a uniquely child-oriented environment.

Cave Of The Mounds - Recognized as a National Natural Landmark. A guided tour of the cave takes you past a varied collection of colorful stalactites, stalagmites, columns and other formations.

American Ufo & Sci Fi Museum - You will see breathtaking tributes to your favorite science fiction films and exciting exhibits highlighting UFO sightings, contacts, and abductions!

Kenosha Military Museum - Kenosha Military Museum features military artifacts from WWI - Desert Storm, including tanks, planes and helicopters.

Urban Ecology Center - The center's mission is to preserve and improve the natural resources of Riverside Park, the Milwaukee River, and adjacent green spaces. With this living laboratory as its outdoor classroom, the Center provides opportunities for education, stewardship, and environmental awareness to enrich the lives of all members of our diverse urban community.

Schlitz Audubon Nature Center - The Center encompasses nearly all the landforms and ecological communities that occur in southeastern Wisconsin: prairies, forests, bluff, ravines, ponds and lakeshore. As a result, the 225-acres includes a great variety of flora and fauna, some threatened and endangered.

Janesville's Rotary Gardens - 15 acres of themed garden areas will give you a sampling of the world's gardening and landscaping styles. Rotary Gardens serves as a valuable educational resource and horticultural showcase for everyone to enjoy.

Riveredge Nature Center - The Center is a breeding habitat for 67 species of birds. It includes10 miles of hiking trails, and 8 miles of groomed and tracked cross country ski trails- through prairies and woodlands along the Milwaukee River.

Racine Zoological Gardens - Covering 32 acres, the Zoo is home to over 250 animals representing 76 species. Here you will find lions, wolves, rhinos, orangutans, kangaroos and more, living in exhibit spaces designed to imitate natural surroundings.

Norskedalen Nature & Heritage Center. - Norskedalen, a nature and heritage center located three miles north of Coon Valley, offers six miles of nature trails; the Helga Gundersen arboretum; and seasonal guided tours of the restored Bekkum pioneer log homestead. Nearby, the Thrune Visitors' Center houses heritage and nature museums, a gift shop, library and meeting facilities.

Mt Horeb Mustard Museum - The Mustard Museum is home of the world's largest collection of mustards. The museum features more than 3,500 different mustards from all over the world.

Milwaukee Public Museum - Three floors of exhibits are passports to exciting destinations including lands of dinosaurs, and a tropical garden of live butterflies.

Milton House Museum - The Milton House, a National Historic Landmark is an hexagonal stagecoach inn, built in 1844 by Joseph Goodrich. The inn, constructed of ""grout,"" is considered the oldest building of its type in the United States. The inn was a stop along the Underground Railroad. Goodrich, an abolitionist, provided a safe haven for runaway slaves by hiding them in the basement of the inn.

Mid Continent Railway Museum - The Mid-Continent is an outdoor, living museum and operating railroad recreating the small town/short line way of life during the ""Golden Age of Railroading,"" spanning the years 1880-1916, with operating trains, educational exhibits, and displays of restored rolling stock.

Madison Children's Museum - Madison Children's Museum is a private, not for profit museum featuring hands-on exhibits and programs for children birth through ten years old.

Little Norway - Nestled in a beautiful valley twenty miles west of Madison, hidden in the foothills of Blue Mounds WI. is a charming and unique outdoor museum known as Little Norway. It has another, more romantic name which suggests more vividly the sense of magic that pervades this lovely valley: Nissedahle, or Valley of the Elves.

Kalahari Waterpark Resort - Kalahari Waterpark Resort features an African theme with a spectacular indoor waterpark featuring 11 slides, 3 jacuzzis, Torrent River, wave pool, kid's play area. A fitness center, salon, gift shop, 72 luxurious suites and lots more.

Milwaukee Repertory Theater - The Milwaukee Repertory Theater brings 15 productions of the best in contemporary drama, classics, comedies and cabaret to three unique stages each season.

Noah's Ark Waterpark - Noah's Ark offers 70 acres of water activities including: 2 wavepools, 2 endless rivers, 33 waterslides, 4 kiddie water play areas, a kiddie roller coaster, bumper boats, an 18-hole mini-golf course, 12 restaurants and outdoor lounges, 5 gift and clothing stores, and a candy store.

Milwaukee Art Museum - The collection in the museum comprises more than 20,000 works of art from ancient to contemporary. It includes 15th- to 20th-century European and American painting, sculpture, prints, drawings, photographs, decorative arts, and folk and outsider art.

The Milwaukee Zoo - The Milwaukee County Zoo is considered among the finest Zoos in the country. It is situated on 200 wooded acres and is home to approximately 2500 animals, representing 300 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and invertebrates.

Overture Center For The Arts - Overture Center for the Arts contains the fabulous Overture Hall, the intimate Playhouse, three black box multipurpose spaces, meeting rooms, a soaring glass lobby, and the Capitol Theater, returned to its original name and refurnished one more time into a comfortable mid-sized venue. The Overture Center is home to seven resident performing arts organizations and two visual arts organizations.

Circus World Museum - The Circus World Museum collects, preserves, and interprets archival material and artifacts relating to the history of the American circus. Circus World comes to life in the summer with live demonstrations and shows including a traditional Big Top Circus Performance.

House On The Rock - The House on the Rock is home to a myriad of fascinating exhibits. The collection includes whimsical carousels, enormous sea creatures, fascinating music machines and so much more.

Olbrich Botanical Gardens - This glass pyramid is a sunny, green paradise filled with exotic plants, bright flowers, a rushing waterfall, fragrant orchids and free-flying birds. Stroll through 14 acres of outdoor display gardens including a sunken garden, perennial garden, rose garden, rock garden, herb garden, and wildflower garden.

Mitchell Park Conservatory (domes) - Experience a desert oasis, a tropical jungle and special floral gardens . . . all in one afternoon! Come to the deserts of Africa, Madagascar, South America and North America in the Arid Dome where one of the world's finest collections of cacti, succulents, shrubs and arid-land bulbs grow.

International Clown Hall Of Fame - The International Clown Hall of Fame and Research Center, Inc. is dedicated to the preservation and advancement of clown art. Represented by professional and amateur clown associations, it pays tribute to outstanding clown performers, operates a living museum of clowning with resident clown performers, conducts special events and maintains a national archive of clown artifacts and history.

Hoard Historical Museum - The Hoard Historical Museum interprets the history of the Fort Atkinson area. Exhibits include Indian artifacts, 19th century tools and Ornithology displays. Other exhibits interpret the Blackhawk and Civil Wars, along with frontier history.

Henry Vilas Zoo - The Henry Vilas Zoo is one of the state's finest zoos and admission is free. The zoo offers a petting zoo in the summer

Watson's Wild West Museum - An 1880's General Store Museum of the American West. Guided tours with a cowboy character who captures your imagination with tall tales, cowboy poetry, humor, and historical facts of yesteryear. Enjoy panning for gold at the Tumbleweed Mine, sarsaparilla being slid down the bar, and the wonderful gift shop.

West Bend Art Museum - Established in 1961, the museum exhibits a collection of several hundred works of WI. regional art from the early 19th to mid 20th century, including artists of international acclaim, and holds eight annual exhibitions. A broad spectrum of events complements the exhibitions and events throughout the year.

Riverview Park & Waterworld - Situated on more than 35 acres, Riverview Park & Waterworld offers action-packed entertainment, including the largest U-Drive'Em and Amusement Park, combined with Grand Prix racing, go carts and Mini-Indy cars, 5 Rapids Inner Tube Ride, waterslides, a wave pool and numerous other pools exclusively for children's activities! The park also features amusements rides.

William F. Eisner Museum Of Advertising & Design - The only museum in the country that explores advertising, design and our culture. Record a radio commercial, enjoy changing exhibits and see history in a new way.