Surprising discoveries abound in a state better known for beer, brats and cheese

Almost everyone has heard of Frank Lloyd Wright, America’s most famous architect, but few know that Wisconsin was his home state.

A visit to Taliesin, Wright’s 800-acre estate in rural Spring Green, sheds light on his remarkable career and the architectural genius reflected in an ensemble of buildings he designed from the 1890s to the 1950s. Called an “autobiography in wood and stone,” the National Historic Landmark and UNESCO World Heritage Site includes two homes, a school, barn, windmill and a restaurant.

Taking inspiration from the surrounding hills and valley settled by his ancestors, the Wisconsin native constructed Taliesin as a “living laboratory” where he and his apprentices gathered in the studio to experiment with new building techniques. Before or after a tour, guests can enjoy lunch at Riverview Terrace Cafe, the only remaining Wright-designed restaurant in the world, its wide expanse of windows overlooking the Wisconsin River.

Taliesin is just many unexpected cultural treasures awaiting groups in Wisconsin. Art museums, historic homes, and insights into Native American life will enlighten any itinerary.

Groundbreaking architecture on the Frank Lloyd Wright Trail

Examples of groundbreaking architecture in other towns can be found on the Frank Lloyd Wright Trail, a 200-mile circuit encompassing nine sites in southern Wisconsin. In Racine, free tours of the SC Johnson campus, the world headquarters of the household products company, include the SC Johnson Administration Building (1939) and Research Tower (1950), Wright’s largest commercial project. In the nearby village of Wind Point, groups can tour Wingspread, the last and largest of his Prairie-style homes, completed in 1939 for H. F. Johnson Jr. and now a conference facility.

Racine also is home to the Racine Art Museum, which claims the nation’s largest collection of contemporary crafts. Works range from ceramics and fibers to glass, paper, metal, and wood.

One of Milwaukee’s great hidden gems is the Grohmann Museum, home to the most comprehensive art collection dedicated to the evolution of human work. Paintings show the chemist, blacksmith, taxidermist, glass blower and others engaged in their trades. A group of 17th-century paintings depicts the primitive beginnings of early medical treatments.

Take a visit to a legendary mansion and great museums

Guests are transported back to the Gilded Age on a tour of Pabst Mansion, the home of Milwaukee beer baron Captain Frederick Pabst. Lavish interiors feature stunning chandeliers and ornately carved woodwork.

Jewish Museum Milwaukee, appealing to people of all faiths, offers interactive exhibits that explore themes of immigration, intolerance, diversity, respect and freedom. Of special note is the soaring Chagall tapestry.

In Cedarburg, 20 miles north of Milwaukee, groups can take a docent-led tour of the Wisconsin Museum of Quilt & Fiber Arts, where exhibits celebrate the artistic, cultural, historic and social importance of this art form. Discover local history at the Cedarburg History Museum and Visitor Center and then allow some time for drifting between the town’s delightful mix of specialty shops, gracious inns, cozy cafes and art galleries, many nestled inside historic buildings.

The 600-acre Old World Wisconsin campus, a property of the Wisconsin Historical Society near Eagle, features farmsteads and relocated historic structures staffed by living history interpreters. Many buildings were the work of 19th and early 20th century immigrants from Germany, Denmark, Norway, Poland and other European countries. The gardens and fields are planted with heirloom varieties of fruits, vegetables, grains and herbs.

Art and history come together at two mansions across the street from each other in Oshkosh. Paine Art Center and Gardens consists of 20 themed areas that surround a 1920s English country-style mansion. Paved walkways pass by fountains, sculptures and gardens that recall elegant British estates of the 19th century. The property hosts art exhibitions and festive holiday displays.

A 1908 English Tudor Revival home with beautiful interiors designed by Tiffany Studios houses community history exhibits at the Oshkosh Public Museum. The popular Apostles Clock, created by an Oshkosh resident, chimes on the hour as small figures representing the Apostles pass before Christ and bow their heads.

Sheboygan also boasts a pair of cultural blockbusters. Downtown’s John Michael Kohler Arts Center has rotating exhibitions of eye-opening contemporary art. Don’t miss the artist-designed bathrooms that everyone talks about. One of the men’s rooms is done in blue-and-white Delft tiles—walls, sinks, even the toilet bowls. Artistically tiled restrooms also are found at the museum’s satellite facility, Art Preserve, which presents large-scale installations called “artist-built environments.”

Manitowac and Two Rivers have an interesting history

The twin towns of Manitowoc and Two Rivers pack a big cultural punch. The first-rate Wisconsin Maritime Museum, located on the Manitowoc River in downtown Manitowoc, focuses on the Great Lakes and Wisconsin, showcasing antique boats, ship models and nautical artifacts. In the shipwrecks gallery, museum-goers learn how the ships met their doom and see recovered artifacts. A diorama illustrates the tragic story of the Edmund Fitzgerald, a cargo ship that sank in a fierce gale on Lake Superior on November 10, 1975. Guests also can tour the cramped quarters of the USS Cobia, a restored WWII submarine docked on the river.

Manitowoc’s Rahr-West Art Museum features 19th, 20th and 21st-century art in the lovely Queen Anne-style mansion of the Rahr family, who made their fortune in brewing, malting, and other businesses. Works on display include the 1965 Jug, a ceramic jug decorated by Pablo Picasso; the Andy Warhol silver print 59th Street Bridge Tramway, a series of stitched photographs; and Georgia O’Keeffe’s Birch and Pine Tree #2, a 1925 oil on canvas. Paintings also feature scenes of Manitowoc by local artists. A special curiosity is the replica of the Russian Sputnik IV satellite fragment that fell to earth just outside the mansion on September 5, 1962.  The city’s Sputnikfest celebrates all things sci-fi the second weekend in September.

In Two Rivers, Rogers Street Fishing Village comprises a collection of historic sheds and other buildings on the site of century-old fishing yards on the East Twin River. They can explore the inside of a fishing tug, climb up the 1886 North Pierhead Lighthouse and, in a large modern building, tour the Great Lakes Coast Guard Museum.

Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum, also in Two Rivers, preserves the legacy of Hamilton Manufacturing Company. Founded in 1880, it was once the largest wood-type producer in the country, when everything was letterpress printed. Wood type and letterpress prints are still being created in this working museum, which has the world’s largest collection of such type and the tools to use it.

In the Green Bay region, the rich cultural heritage of the Oneida people takes center stage at the Oneida Nation Museum, where exhibits offer insights into the tribe’s history, art and traditions. Crafts from local Oneida artists and other Native American nations are sold in the gift shop. The Nation’s story also is told at Amelia Cornelius Culture Park, the site of a replica long house and several 100+-year-old log homes. Seasonal offerings include the Oneida Nation Apple Orchard and Oneida Buffalo Overlook, which offers views of the buffalo herd from a covered observation deck. The 51st annual Oneida Pow Wow takes place June 27-29, 2025.

The Mulva Cultural Center in De Pere, part of Greater Green Bay, is a $100 million beacon of arts and culture that opened in late 2023. Complete with a restaurant, event space, coffee bar and gift shop, the state-of-the-art facility hosts traveling exhibitions and a variety of performances.

Also in the Green Bay region are Heritage Hill State Historical Park, a 56-acre outdoor museum with 26 buildings and costumed interpreters, and the National Railroad Museum, which displays over 70 pieces of railroad equipment.

Groups can learn about the state’s Scandinavian heritage at Norskedalen Nature & Heritage Center, a 19th-century Norwegian homestead just outside Coon Valley, 20 miles southeast of La Crosse. Tour an 1890s log cabin, enjoy a typical Norwegian meal, and take a refreshing walk along trails through the wooded bluffs. 

German culture is celebrated with German beer, wine, and food at Das Fest Wisconsin, set for July 18-20, 2025 at the Kenosha County Fairgrounds in Wilmot. There will be multiple entertainment stages, dachshund and corgi races, and demonstrations of wooden shoe carving and glass blowing, plus carnival rides, bingo, and other games.

In the town of La Pointe on Madeline Island, the largest of Lake Superior’s Apostle Islands, the Madeline Island Museum spotlights the cultures that have called the island home. Exhibits showcase the Ojibwe and other Indigenous tribes who lived there for hundreds of years before European contact, and also the Europeans who established a post for fur trading, commercial fishing, and missionary activities.

Northern Wisconsin’s Washburn County offers an active cultural scene powered by galleries, museums and public art. The Potter’s Shed in Shell Lake offers a hands-on zone where you can paint your own pottery, and its gallery abounds with creations from hundreds of artists. Works by more than 30 artists are found at Brickyard Pottery & Gallery, which occupies a historic brick schoolhouse. Guided walks around Shell Lake reveal beautiful handmade mosaics. Art galleries in downtown Spooner are housed in historic buildings with original tin ceilings. Spooner’s Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Museum celebrates the art of canoe design. The neighboring Railroad Memories Museum is located in the former Chicago & Northwestern Railway Depot.

From June 13-15, 2025 in Beaver Dam, the annual Wisconsin Arts and Peony Festival offers three days of fun. Tours of Ovans Peony Farm, the largest stem-cut peony farm in Wisconsin, will showcase a hundred different varieties of peonies and thousands of blooms. At Saturday’s Art Market on Maple Avenue, enjoy a kaleidoscope of artistic creations along with live music and food trucks. The American Peony Society Peony Flower Show & Exhibition, held in a different state each year, is slated for June 14-15 at Beaver Dam High School.