Our favorite coffee culture is in Wisconsin. Not lattes and cappuccinos, just good cups of strong hospitality that go hand-in-hand with our favorite memories of the state: sitting on the porch of a lakeside cabin, blowing steam into the cool air; pouring from a Thermos while floating in a canoe on a serene lake; washing down some homemade pie. Coffee isn't about waking up in Wisconsin. It's a way of slowing down and enjoying what's around you.

And there's plenty to enjoy: The scenery ranges from dramatic river bluffs, abundant forests, Great Lakes, lesser lakes and rolling pastures full of cattle. Milwaukee mixes fine museums with its blue-collar factories, and some fairly small towns—Spring Green and Richland Center—are graced by the architectural wonders of native son Frank Lloyd Wright.

Geography

History

Long before the era of modern architecture, Native Americans of the Effigy Mound Culture (AD 500—1100) created great earthen figures of birds, animals and people. Many of them can still be seen today. The Menominee, Winnebago and Dakota peoples were also residents of what's become present-day Wisconsin.

Europeans first saw Wisconsin in 1634, when French explorer Jean Nicolet entered the territory. For more than a century, French missionaries and fur traders worked in the area. During that time, other Native Americans moved into Wisconsin fleeing wars in the east. The Ojibwe, Sauk, Fox, Huron, Kickapoo, Ottawa and Potawatomi were among these migrants, and their arrival instigated battles with the tribes that were already living in the area.

France lost its North American holdings to the British in 1763, and the English kept their hold on the region for the next 50 years. Even though much of the Great Lakes area officially came under U.S. jurisdiction after the Revolutionary War, it wasn't until the end of the War of 1812 that the British finally withdrew. The Native Americans of the region violently resisted the increasing incursions by settlers, but the Black Hawk War of 1832 put an end to organized opposition. As more newcomers arrived, the state's economy began to diversify: The fur trade was still lucrative, but lead mining and agriculture became more important. The growth in population led to statehood in 1848.

Wisconsin, the birthplace of the antislavery Republican Party, was foursquare for the Union in the Civil War. The state's first industrial giants were the owners of the huge lumber companies that felled the northern forests, and beer production became important in Wisconsin after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed that city's breweries. European immigration from the mid-1800s to 1920 provided the workforce that contributed to the growth of the state's industrial base, which soon included heavy manufacturing, dairy production, ironworking and tanning. The cultural and religious practices of the newcomers—largely Germans, Norwegians and Poles—still remain ingrained in Wisconsin's smaller communities.

Although small, family-run dairy farms still exist in Wisconsin, they continue to decline as larger corporate farms increase their holdings. Key crops include corn, soybeans, cranberries, oats, beets, beans, carrots and potatoes. Although California now produces more milk, Wisconsin remains the nation's top cheese maker. In the north, paper manufacturing is king; and food processing, machinery manufacturing and meatpacking are major employers in Milwaukee. Recent decades have seen a significant shift from manufacturing to service employment—tourism is Wisconsin's second-largest industry. Technology is really just beginning to play a major role in the state's economy. Medical-equipment manufacturing is a rising sector in Milwaukee, and biotech companies are fueling growth in the Madison area.

Snapshot

Wisconsin's main attractions include biking, birding, canoeing, hiking, Door County sightseeing, Milwaukee, brewery and winery tours, fishing, hunting, sailing, cheese-factory tours, the Great River Road, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Madison, Native American culture, boating, camping, skiing, train excursions and snowmobiling.

Tavelers interested in a relaxing vacation with outdoor activities, inspiring natural beauty and friendly people will have a great time in Wisconsin. Most visitors will find something to enjoy there, but they should be aware that Wisconsin's beauty is that of hills, bluffs and dells, rather than dramatic mountains and valleys.

Potpourri

The Green Bay Packers are the only professional football team that's a nonprofit, publicly held corporation. The corporation's structure limits the amount of shares one person can hold and prohibits the selling of shares for a profit. These measures have helped the team keep a community focus, which is rare in the big-money sports world. Home games are consistently sold out, and the waiting list for season tickets is several decades long. Many people will their season tickets to the next generation.

Scuba divers along the Wisconsin shore of Lake Superior have begun pulling up logs that sank in the lake more than 100 years ago. The logs, cut from Wisconsin's legendary old-growth forests, have been kept perfectly intact by Lake Superior's icy waters. A company in Ashland reclaims the fine-grained wood for use in custom furniture and cabinetry.

The Hamburger Hall of Fame is found in Seymour. The first inductee, Charles Nagreen, is the person who had the brilliant idea of flattening a meatball and making it into a sandwich. He did it in 1885.

Move over, Jonah: Visitors can walk through a four-story muskie fish at the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame in Hayward.

The leisure practice of inner-tubing down the Apple River (beer can in hand) has given Somerset the nickname "tubing capital of the world."

When you're in Door County, look for the houses that still have the traditional sod roofs. Goats are sometimes placed on them to keep the grass trimmed.

The state boasts several interesting capitals: Bloomer is the jump-rope capital of the U.S., Berlin is the fur-and-leather capital, Ellsworth is the cheese-curd capital, Mount Horeb is the troll capital of the world, Sauk-Prairie is the cow-chip-throwing capital, Monroe is the Swiss-cheese capital and Lake Tomahawk is the snowshoe-baseball capital of the world. Other Wisconsin towns boast unusual slogans: Ettrick claims to be "Fun City, USA," Beaver Dam is the "Home of 15,000 Busy Beavers," Lodi is the "Home of Susie the Duck," Babcock is "Where the Last Passenger Pigeon Was Killed" and Sparta is "Home of the Big Fiberglass Animals." (Please note that we have not verified these claims.)

The Ice-Age National Scientific Reserve has five units across the state. Each unit has trails that will take you through geological reminders of the glaciers that once covered the state. There's also an Ice-Age Interpretive Center in St. Croix Falls and the Henry S. Reuss Ice Age Visitors Center in Campbellsport.

As you pass through Jacksonport in Door County, note that you are on the 45th parallel, exactly halfway between the equator and the North Pole.

In Door County restaurants, you may be served booyah, a hearty stew of chicken, beef and vegetables brought to the state by Walloon-speaking Belgian immigrants. Booyah is said to derive from the Walloon term meaning "to boil."

The world-famous Mustard Museum is located in Mount Horeb, 20 mi/32 km southwest of Madison. Mustard enthusiasts and curious tourists tour and sample curator Barry Levenson's collection and attend the National Mustard Day celebration each summer. The museum was featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show and was once the answer to a Jeopardy question.