History Lives on in These Notable Places

Old World Wisconsin brings the nation’s past to life.

A broom-making exhibit at the Fenimore Farm and Country Village shows contemporary visitors how the household items were once made. Photo courtesy of Victor Block

On a farmstead near the tiny town of Eagle, Wisconsin—population about 2,000—a blacksmith heats an iron rod in a fire and bangs it into a desired shape. Nearby, some women turn spindles to transform wool into yarn while others prepare food on a wood stove.

If this sounds like early pioneers who came to the New World centuries ago, it is meant to. These realistic reenactors are re-creating the world in which early settlers lived in rural America. They’re doing so at the self-proclaimed largest outdoor museum in the world.