Old World Wisconsin

One of the most educational living history exhibits around. The folks there have studied up and are willing to share all they have learned. Go early and plan to stay all day.

Went with my wife and son and had a blast. The staff and volunteers are very nice and knowledgable. They show a lot of food that has been prepared there on the farm using old world methods and sometimes you can see it being prepared. The real bummer is that the are unable to serve it to the guests do to health department regulations. One of the really cool things we saw was getting up close and personal with a bunch of chickens and a really cool pig. My son — 26 — was fascinated with trying to get a picture of a cow standing next to him.

Just did an event here and it was absolutely beautiful and perfect for what we were trying to achieve — Rustic Elegance. Bartenders were absolutely wonderful and a pleasure to work with. Had a bit of trouble getting help the day of the event from facility staff, but other than that this venue would be perfect for anyone planning a rustic chic wedding or other!

We came to Old World Wisconsin on a class field trip. Seeing the pigs, the baby chickens, and the sheep makes this place worthwhile! The whole place is like a time warp, and they have some rope-​making presentations by the farm, an opportunity to walk on stilts as a past-​time, guided tours, and getting a tram around the area. Great place to walk around and explore. There are student rates as well as school discounts. Be sure to bring a packed or sacked lunch, since their restaurant was just okay — I did enjoy their Oatmeal Raisin cookies as they were quite delicious! Their Pulled Pork was okay, but more on the sweeter side, and their potato salad was very dill-​focused. Definitely an educational experience!
+great educational experience!
+bring a sacked lunch

If you are looking for a quiet day to spend with the family, then this is a good place to go. If you like looking into the past, this is also a good place to go. However, if you are looking into getting rowdy or something with action, then you may not appreciate the place.
All in all, we enjoyed our stay. I just wished that the place offered samples or a way for people to buy things here and there. Besides the tourists, I feel like the place was a wee bit empty. There were also a lot of places that you cannot go, like the 2^nd floors and it is really more like a «look-​only» outside museum. I wish there were more things for people to get involved with … kind of like in a Renaissance fair. I believe if they do this, they will have more tourists that would come.
For example, there was a working oven that can bake up to 25 loaves of bread. On a saturday, I wish they would bake some bread for sale on that oven. Or, they were talking about some hot apple cider — which naturally gets a small amount of alcohol — so I feel like maybe they can find a way to not have alcohol and give samples, or again, have some for sale. There were so many goodiesand if there is a way for the tourists to get involved in the community, then it will bring more people. I also wished there were more people working there so that it will truly bring a sense of community. For the most part, we see maybe one person in a small house or one per every building. Maybe a ‘family’ settting would help, horse drawn carriages to carry kids from one stop to the next, more «actors» i guess. I understand it is a low key area, but I can just imagine the possibilities if they put a bit more into the place. There was also a blacksmith building and I wish they would sell some horseshoe for souvenir, and a general store which I also wished would sell little bag of edible grains here and there. Maybe sell some of the veggies that grows there … just little trinkets. I just felt like there were too many props.
But again, it is more like an outside museum. I loved the people that were working there. The tram drivers were very nice and the place is quite authentic since all the buildings there were original.

Much larger place than I had imagined. We were there mid-​week in the summer and it wasn’t very crowded, but the trams were easily running every 15 min or more frequently. The buildings and grounds were amazing — I hadn’t realized that the buildings are original and the furnishings are great to recreate the feeling of walking into a person’s home during that time period. It was great that you could walk through everything and touch many items — the kids that we saw there were having a great time. The interpreters (dressed in period outfits) were also very knowledgeable and we asked lots of questions. The school house was great — a whole room of adults crammed into those little desks with the school teacher calling on us to ask our questions (I was scolded — playfully — for not standing to ask my question — which just helped create a more authentic feel for the time period).
I was a little sad for one of the pigs who was on a farm by himself and ran over when we approached (we fed him grass from the yard). And apparently they slaughter some of the animals at the end of the season (disturbing, since we’re vegetarians). One of the houses had a freshly killed, skinned and cooked squirrel which, while authentic, seemed like over doing it a bit. If not for these issues, easily a five-​star trip.
I really liked how the interpreters had been or were engaged in authentic activities of the period (farming, baking, washing) so you got a real sense that you were just walking into someone’s every day life from over a hundred years ago. The larger gardens were also quite impressive. We were there for about 4.5 hours and wished we’d arrived a little earlier. We kept up a good pace all day (but asked lots of questions and tried to see everything) but ended up being a little rushed at the end of the day and might go back to finish up seeing some things we missed.
It was a great day trip from Chicago and we loved being in all the very quiet, open space.

The tram that is supposed to run every 15 mins… lmao…maybe every hour.
The animals also need better care.

As big fan of Laura Ingalls Wilder and LM Montgomery growing up, I love places like this. My mother brought me here as a child and I have fond memories
These memories stick out to me now as a 29 year old: sitting in the corner at the school house for getting into trouble (complete with dunce cap), churning butter, making whistles out of the long grass and feeding cows clovers and finding a 4 leaf clover. That clover is pressed in a book. I also got a cat’s cradle game from the gift shop, that I played with for hours. It was probably one of my favorite places as a child, and I always wanted to go back.

Great experience for two grandparents with three grandchildren (4, 4 and 6). They loved the freedom to run, to explore, to ask questions of the interpreters, to get close to animals. We loved exploring it through their eyes. Astonishing to me how many people in Milwaukee have never been here. It’s only 30 minutes out of the city and the prices are reasonable (children under five free and easily available coupons for one adult to be free with a paying one). We spent about five hours including lunch and only covered half of the things to see. Milwaukeans need to know what a treasure they have here.

People pretty much covered all of the bases in the other reviews on here; however, I would also like to mention that they have great rates for people who become members. They also gave me a discount for coming with a member.
Animals are mainly kept in the barns and/​or fenced. There are some chickens and turkeys that run around freely and they are pretty easy to access and get some good pictures of. You’re allowed to take pictures pretty much everywhere. I don’t remember seeing any signs to prohibit it.
Their gift shop is awesome! It’s truly a general store. My friend’s husband and I bought hoops and sticks after playing with the ones they had for visitors to use. I think they were $ 20, if that. They also sell nationality patches for different parts of the settlement and my all time favorite, rock candy! We stocked up on bunches of rock candy sticks and candy canes. They kept us occupied on the ride home.

On a somewhat chilly fall day, we stepped back in time here. You enter the drive sheltered by pines and then visit a colonial town spread across acres upon acres.
You can hike or ride a tram to various themed towns: German, Finnish, African and more. We loved the hike and came across 20 or so turkeys along the way. You really feel like you’re in a different time period from the surroundings. The trams zipped by a little to fast for our taste but they’ll let you rest some.
Each town has settlers ready to show you their homes and they’ll demonstrate their work from wood chopping, candle dipping, feather plucking and more. They also incorporate these demonstrations with the seasons.
We had a great fall day visiting and may return this winter too! Hot cocoa would have been warming along the walk though. The restraurant closes early so consider taking the tram for a bite to eat between your town visits. There’s too much to mention here, so you’ll just have to step back in time yourself soon.