Relive Wisconsin’s Rise to “America’s Dairyland”
Explore history by the acre at Stonefield! Your adventure through the former estate of Wisconsin’s first governor tells the amazing story of the Badger State’s agricultural advance from a struggling group of wheat farmers to America’s Dairyland.
Tour over 30 restored historic businesses that highlight Wisconsin’s rural development at the turn of the 20th century. See the largest collection of farm equipment and vintage tractors in the state in the State Agricultural Museum. Visit the home of Wisconsin’s first governor and see fascinating artifacts that tell the story of Wisconsin’s transition from territory to state. With every step of your journey at Stonefield, you’ll be immersed in the spirit of ingenuity that helped propel Wisconsin forward.
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Historic Demonstrations
Enjoy historic demonstrations like fabric spinning, hat making, blacksmithing, historic wet-plate photography, and more! Included with Stonefield General Admission.
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Stonefield Historic Site
Offical Facebook Page for Stonefield Historic Site, a historic site owned and operated by the Wisconsin Historical Society.
Join HH Bennett Studio & Museum director Dave Rambow this Saturday in the Stonefield Village to learn about historic wet plate photography! Dave is one of only a few people in the United States who regularly use the authentic "wet plate" photographic technique to produce fine art ambrotypes and tintypes. Dave's work has been seen in several movies, including "True Grit" and "A Million Ways to Die in the West." He will be joined by family folk duo "Snow on the Mountain," and hat maker Simone Mauser. ... See MoreSee Less
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Dave is excited to come Stonefield this weekend! We are sure it will be a fun delight for everyone!
Fantastic/ Cuddos
I got me a Rambow!
What time?
Melissa Ann Okey I'm sure you already know about this.
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Did you know that Stonefield Historic Site is not only home to 1800’s machinery and recreated rural Wisconsin life, but also home to a significant colony of bats? Between 1,000 and 2,000 little brown bats roost in the bat houses around the property from April through September every year!
Bats have been using the bat houses at Stonefield since they were built and installed by Kent Borcherding in the late 1990s. Before the new bat residences were installed, bats called many of the buildings on the property home. By providing alternate roosting habitat (bat houses) and closing the buildings to bats, the colony successfully moved out of the buildings and into the bat houses.
Estimating how many bats are present in the boxes in summer is surprisingly simple – surveyors count the bats as they emerge in the evening! Thanks to volunteers and staff conducting bat counts, the WDNR Bat Program (WBP) has a pretty good idea of how the bat colony at Stonefield has fluctuated in response to the deadly bat disease, white-nose syndrome (WNS) which has decimated hibernating bat populations across North America. Before WNS arrived in Wisconsin, Stonefield bat houses were home to nearly 4,000 bats but in the years after arrival of WNS the colony dropped to under 1,000.
Thanks to surveys this summer, the WBP knows that Stonefield continues to be one of the most significant and important little brown bat roost sites in the region with over 2,000 bats! For more information about bats in Wisconsin and bat roost monitoring, please visit the WBP website: wiatri.net/inventory/bats/
📸: Bat houses by the Stonefield blacksmith workshop ... See MoreSee Less
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Love bats…as long as they stay outside and don’t get in the house! 🦇. I enjoy sitting on my screened in Back Porch in t(e evening and watch them fly around.
Awesome! Love bats. They're so important to the overall health of the area.
Interesting! Thank you.
Join us this Saturday, July 23 for historic demonstrations in Stonefield's 1900 rural village! Demonstrations are included with a general admission ticket. Book your tickets today! wihist.org/3IlthQm ... See MoreSee Less
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We enjoyed our Visit