Wade House

History

Wade House Historic Site has been welcoming visitors for 60 years. The historic core of the site was restored by Ruth DeYoung Kohler and gifted to the Wisconsin Historical Society by the Kohler Foundation. In 1968, the Wesley W. Jung Carriage collection was donated to, and exhibited at, the historic site. In 2001, the authentic reconstruction of the working Herlling Sawmill was completed. And in 2013, the new 38,000 square foot Visitor Center and Wesley W. Jung Carriage Museum opened to the pulbic. Through the years, the site has grown in size to 240 acres.

Specialties

Owned and operated by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Wade House Historic Site celebrates the world of plank road stagecoach travel, horse-drawn transportation, and mid-19th-century settlement and town building. The new Visitor Center and Wesley W. Jung Carriage Museum greets visitors with a rich array of exhibits providing orientation to the site and its themes. The wonder of Wisconsin's largest collection of carriages and wagons awaits each visitor to the site in the new, state-of-the-art 20,000 square foot carriage museum. A visit to site's historic area includes a guided tour of the stately, 27-room stagecoach hotel built in 1850 and demonstrations by costumed staff in the Dockstader Blacksmith Shop and Herrling Sawmill. Visitors are transported to and from the historic core of the site via horse-drawn wagon, or they may enjoy making the trip upon a wooded trail and boardwalk.