The Dells

September 14 – 28, 2020

Leaving Door County, we headed southwest past Green Bay and on to the Wisconsin Dells. This was an area that we were planning to visit on plans A (Alaska) and B (west to Utah) but had to cancel, first due to Covid and then due to repairs in Indiana. The third time was the charm.

Fox Hill RV Park

We used the credits from our two previous cancelations to reserve two weeks at Fox Hill RV Park in Baraboo, Wisconsin. Surprisingly, the campground office was already decorated for Halloween when we arrived. As it turned out, they were holding Halloween weekends complete with decorating contests, hay rides, door-to-door trick or treating and other kids activities. Boy, our shy little dog Dawn was going to love this!! We checked in on a Monday and pretty much had the campground to ourselves until folks began to arrive on Thursday. By Saturday morning, every site was filled and the place was abuzz. We watched from inside our RV on Saturday evening as all manner of costumed characters marched past on the quest for candy. On Sunday morning we witnessed a mass exodus. Yea! Quiet again until the next weekend when the drama unfolded again.

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A Bit of History

The Dells today is known as the “Waterpark Capital of the World” with over 20 different indoor or outdoor water parks. With this many modern attractions, you might not guess that the Dells is actually over 150 years old.

In 1856, the town was incorporated as Kilbourn City, in honor of the railroad’s president. The name did not stick. In 1931, it was officially changed to Wisconsin Dells, the name the locals and tourists had always used, with “Wisconsin” derived from the Native American word meaning “dark rushing waters,” and “Dells” mimicking the French word “dalles” that means “layers of flat rock” to describe the bluff rock formations.

A local newspaper, the Wisconsin Mirror, offered a most accurate prophecy when it concluded in 1856 that “the wild, romantic scenery of the ‘Dells’ will always make them a place of resort for seekers of pleasure.”

The community was also a busy logging route in Wisconsin, with pines from the north being moved to larger cities in the south. It was dangerous work, given the rapids and primitively designed dams. In fact, at one point, the whole volume of the Wisconsin River was squeezed into a fifty foot wide rocky, narrow gulch. The area’s first bridge, built in the 1850s, turned logging into a tourist attraction. About that time, the first railroad bridge was built as well. By the end of the century, a new dam, still in place today, was constructed and the successful destiny of the community was sealed.

In 1946, Mel Flath brought the first WWII land-to-water vehicles known as Ducks to Wisconsin Dells and set up a tour company. In the 1950’s, crowds were first treated to the famous Tommy Bartlett ski show. Attractions like Storybook Gardens and Fort Dells entertained thousands in the following decades, the precursor to the Dells as we know it today. In 1994, Stan Anderson, the owner of the Polynesian Resort Hotel, decided to put a roof over a water attraction at this property, and the first indoor water park in the country was christened. One year later, both the Wilderness Resort and Treasure Island water parks opened. A few years after that, Great Wolf Lodge expanded its offerings. In 2000, the Kalahari Resort opened and then quickly expanded its indoor water park. The rest, they say, is history.
 

Wisconsin Dells History

Exploring Downtown

We decided to explore the town first before branching out into the surrounding area. Walking along Broadway, we passed several souvenir shops as well as establishments emphasizing various forms of entertainment – fun houses, arcades, indoor paintball, and the like. Ready for a late lunch, we stopped at Monk’s Bar and Grill – “Wisconsin’s first craft burger bar”. We had to admit, the onion petals and burgers were very good.

Cheese Of Course

You absolutely cannot come to Wisconsin without buying some cheese, On one of our errand runs, we stopped at the Market Square Cheese Store where we purchased some string cheese and cheese curds as well as a magnet to add to our growing refrigerator door collection.

Devils Lake State Park

Going further afield, on one gorgeous day we drove to Devils Lake State Park in Baraboo. This 9000 acre park is one of Wisconsin’s most popular state parks. It contains a number of interesting rock formations and provides some great views from the Baraboo Bluffs. Only one problem. You had to negotiate some steep trails to see them. Bill decided he was up to the challenge so we walked together to the base of the Balanced Rock Trail. That’s where Bill started his upward trek as I continued on the level Grottos Trail. At the top of bluff, he was able to get a photo of Balanced Rock and Devil’s Doorway. He said the trail along the top was paved and level. He still had to come back down. His options included taking the 0.3 mile Potholes Trail or continuing along the East Bluff Trail and taking the 0.3 mile CCC Trail down. He chose the Potholes Trail where he rejoined me on the Grottos Trail.

After all of that exertion, it was time for some Mexican food. We found a great place in Baraboo – Jose’s Authentic Mexican Restaurant.

Upper Dells Boat Tour

We put off visiting the star attraction of the Dells until another gorgeous mid-week day. We already had our tickets for the Wisconsin Dells Boat Tour of the Upper Dells so all we had to do was drive into town and park. (The company also offers a Lower Dells tour but that was not running while we were there). The Upper Dells tour is a 2 1/2 hour tour of the Wisconsin River above the dam.

In the Upper Dells, the section of river above the dam in Wisconsin Dells, you’ll journey northward, cruising through an awesome path cut by ancient glaciers. You’ll pass under pine-crowned cliffs, navigate winding river narrows, and view iconic sandstone formations like Chimney Rock, Blackhawk’s Profile and Romance Cliff.

But your adventure is just beginning! Two shore landings beckon, ports of call you’ll experience only on Dells Boat Tours. Witches Gulch is a spectacular and spooky walk through a narrow canyon carved by wind and water and filled with fern glens, shadowy passages and hidden whirlpool chambers. At Stand Rock, you’ll walk to the base of this imposing pillar of sandstone, then watch as high above you, a trained dog makes the famous leap from cliff face to Stand Rock and back again.

Dell Boats

Witches Gulch

Stand Rock

The Dells became a major tourist destination thanks to the work of a photographer named Henry Hamilton Bennett. Bennett, whose family moved to Kilbourn City in 1857 when he was 14, specialized in landscape photography. His two dimensional photos and later his three dimensional stereographic photo were sold in cities across the United States. As a result, people began flocking to see these rock formations. In 1875, Bennett opened the H. H. Bennett Studio in the Dells selling postcards and portraits to travelers. He also continued to innovate the field of photography by inventing a stop action shutter. With this new shutter, he was able to take clear pictures of moving subjects. As proof that his shutter actually worked, Bennett had his son Ashley jump between two rock formations. Today, a German Shepherd recreates that event (and they’ve added a safety net).

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Birthday Celebration

Bill celebrated a birthday while we were in the Dells so in honor of that event we had a special dinner at the Del-Bar Supper Club. The steaks were delicious!!

The Del-Bar once stood as a lone sentry along a route between Wisconsin Dells and Baraboo, thus the name. It was started by two gentlemen who converted a small cabin into a restaurant with just six tables.

When WWII broke out, business fell off, and the original owners lost interest. Jimmy Wimmer, a former quarterback for the University of Wisconsin who grew up in rural Wisconsin Dells, was eager to take over, even under the less-than-fortuitous conditions.

Today, the restaurant stands out along a busy stretch of road in this popular resort community, no longer a cabin but a masterpiece of Prairie-style architecture, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright protégé James Dresser. The restaurant interior is equally stunning, with intimate spaces opening up to cathedral-like dining areas. Paintings by Mary Alice Wimmer bring warmth to the space, as do the beloved black-and-white photos of the Del-Bar of days gone by.

Del-Bar

Farewell to Wisconsin

Our time in here is at an end and we must move on. Until our next post, I’ll leave you with a few fun facts about Wisconsin that you may or may not know.

• Wisconsin actually leads the nation in exports of cranberries, whey, ginseng root and sweet corn.
• The Swiss Cheese Capital of the World is not in Switzerland, it’s actually in Monroe, Wisconsin.
• Minnesota may be the “land of 10,000 lakes”, but Wisconsin has over 15,000.
• Door County has more shoreline than any other county in the U.S.
• Wisconsin’s state symbol, the badger, doesn’t refer to the animal but instead to the 1820s lead miners who traveled for work and dug tunnels to sleep in and keep warm, much like a badger.