2. Old World Wisconsin Galleries

The People of OWW

Old World Wisconsin, the Midwest's largest outdoor living history museum, showcases the life of immigrants to the State of Wisconsin in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It is owned and operated by the Wisconsin Historical Society and occupies nearly 600 acres in the rolling hills of the Kettle Moraine area of Southeast Wisconsin near the small village of Eagle. It includes nine ethnic farms plus a village with a blacksmith, cobbler, general store, church, inn, shoe shop, and several residences. Interpreters dress in period clothing and go about their daily chores of farming, cooking, laundry, shoe making, blacksmithing, etc. The 40 some odd historic builldings on the site were moved to Old World from various locations in the early 1970s. The museum was opened to the public as the bicentennial project of the State of Wisconsin in 1976.
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Dick the cobbler, waits for customers at the entrance to the Sisel Shoe Shop.
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Dick the cobbler, waits for customers at the entrance to the Sisel Shoe Shop.

OWWOWW PeopleSisel ShoeVillage

  • Loyd Heath in the kitchen of the 1897 Rankinen (Finnish) farmhouse. Photo by Bruce Batten.
  • Tony, the happy farmer, greets visitors
  • Jane, an interpreter, waves to visitors in Crossroads village.
  • Dick the cobbler, waits for customers at the entrance to the Sisel Shoe Shop.
  • Bob the cobbler stands at the entrance to the Sisel Shoe Shop looking for customers.
  • Ken, an interpreter, greets visitors as he emerges from the Grube barn at the 1860 Schulz (German) farm.
  • Jane, an Old World Wisconsin interpreter.
  • Jane, an Old World Wisconsin interpreter.
  • Olivia (my granddaughter) at the Ketola Farm during a Laura Ingalls Wilder summer camp.
  • Jane, an Old World Wisconsin interpreter.
  • A Civil War reenactor relaxes outside the Grotelueschen Blacksmith Shop.
  • Ted, an interpreter, relaxes outside Four Mile Inn in Crossroads Village.
  • Marcia, Historic Gardener, discusses herbs she grows with visitors in the Sanford Garden.
  • Marcia (far left), historic gardener, takes a break with some of her volunteers on the porch of the 1860 Sanford House in Crossroads Village.
  • Daryl, historic farmer.
  • Diana, an interpreter, on the porch of the 1865 Norwegian Kvaale farmhouse, holding a hat full of eggs a farmer has just collected and given her.
  • Bob, an interpreter, talking to a visitor.
  • Richard, an historic farmer, chatting with vistors at the 1875 German Schottler Farm.
  • Ken, an interpreter, conducts a debate about dog licensing at the Harmony Town Hall in Crossroads Village.
  • Ken, an interpreter, carries a sign announcing a debate on dog licensing to be held at Harmony Town Hall in Crossroads Village.
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