It’s easy to fall in love with images of the old days — when horses and wagons, steam trains and paddle boats moved people and freight around America.  And the animals were a big part of the farms across the frontier.  People grew their own food, made their own clothes, even made their own beer — and in most small towns, the blacksmith was almost god-like.

It was the horses, mules and oxen that powered those early days.  But as the 20th century arrived, with one fantastic invention after another, tractors replaced the horses, trucks replaced the wagons, telephones, electricity, running water all changed the way things worked.  We love the convenience, but of course, we miss the romance of our past.

But in Southern Wisconsin, that past is still alive and kicking — literally.

At Old World Wisconsin, you can get a live look back in time – how things worked.  Just outside Eagle, Wisconsin, on hundreds of acres of open land, you can experience the early days of America.

Old World Wisconsin is run by the Wisconsin Historical Society.  Historic buildings from all over the state were moved here — to build and show what farms, small towns and homes would have been like back in the 19th century — from the 1840’s to the early 20th century. The idea was first hatched in the 1950’s — inspired by the outdoor museums of Europe that give people a feel of times past — and immerse them in the experience and every day life from the old days.

As it nears it’s 50th Anniversary, Old World Wisconsin has just added The Brewing Experience — showing how farms would have made beer back in the day over open flame. For nearly half a century — this special place has taken us back nearly two centuries — to the early days of America.