Events
Events are subject to change. Please check back frequently.
2025 THEME: HEARTH & HOME
Explore the daily rhythms and traditions of home life among the diverse residents of the Fox-Wisconsin portage in 1832. Everyday life was considerably different than it is today. There were cultural and ethnic differences in the ways families and communities lived their lives here on the frontier, too. Each experienced its own unique essence of "hearth and home."
FREE Printed-and-Bound Learning and Activity Guide
When you come for an event or tour, pick up a copy of our 2025 learning and activity guide, while supplies last. These annual themed books are family favorites! Also available online as a free pdf.
Printed books were made possible in part by grants from The Kohler Foundation; and Wisconsin Humanities, with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the State of Wisconsin. (Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this project do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.)
Calendar of Events
Our season opens today. Be the first in line to enjoy an informative, engaging tour. We are open for tours Wednesday through Sunday each week through October 15. Docent-guided tours are FREE this year! A donation is always appreciated.
Opening Day:
2025 Season
Thursday, May 15
10 am to 4 pm
The Historical Timekeepers will be on-site adding "living history" ambiance to the physical setting of your tour. Free event.
Living History
Tours
Sat-Sun, May 31-June 1
10 to 4 Sat | 12 to 3 Sun
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Kids ages 5-10 will have a blast learning hands-on! Each child gets a free backpack loaded with 'Hearth & Home' themed resources and tools. Susan Apps-Bodilly will be with us, too! Brand new activities and backpack contents. If you came last year, come again! Pre-register. Free.
Workshop Details & Pre-registration
2nd Annual Kids'
Backpack Workshop
Saturday, June 7
1 to 3 pm (Rain date: June 8)
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Inventing Childhood: Coming of Age in the New Republic. Dr. James Marten is Professor Emeritus at Marquette University. Free event.
Speaker Series #1
Dr. James Marten
Tuesday, June 10
6:30 pm
Work alongside professional archaeologists. Spectating is free. To dig, a membership is required. Pre-registration for dig time(s) is recommended. Kids get a free t-shirt, too, while supplies last. (A fun activity for Father's Day weekend!)
Archaeological
Dig Weekend #1
Sat-Sun, June 14-15
10 am to 4 pm
Come and watch a blacksmith at work. Explore the history, tools, and techniques of the trade as we endeavor to archaeologically locate the 1830s Agency blacksmith shop. Free. (A fun thing to do on Father's Day weekend!)
Blacksmithing
Demonstrations
Sat-Sun, June 14-15
10 am to 4 pm
Work alongside professional archaeologists. Spectating is free. To dig, a membership is required. Pre-registration for dig time(s) is recommended. Kids get a free t-shirt, too, while supplies last.
Archaeological
Dig Weekend #2
Sat-Sun, June 21-22
10 am to 4 pm
Come and watch a blacksmith at work. Explore the history, tools, and techniques of the trade as we endeavor to archaeologically locate the 1830s Agency blacksmith shop. Free.
Blacksmithing
Demonstrations
Sat-Sun, June 21-22
10 am to 4 pm
The Wisconsin Dells Singers & Dance Troupe of the Ho-Chunk Nation will perform at 1 pm. Free event for the whole family. Music and dance have been integral and distinctive parts of "hearth and home" experiences across cultures throughout history.
Ho-chunk Music
and Dance
Saturday, June 28
Performance at 1 pm
Ho-Chunk Basket
Weaving Workshop
Saturday, June 28
10 am to 12 pm OR 2-4 pm
Renowned Ho-Chunk basket weaver Kimberly Crowley will help you make a black ash basket of your own! Ages 14-adult. Choose 10am-12pm or 2-4pm. Free, thanks to a grant ($75 value!). Now filled, but come & spectate...spots could open up too.
Ho-Chunk
Cultural Arts
Saturday, June 28
10 am to 4 pm
Learn more about Indigenous arts as Ho-Chunk artisans demonstrate their craft.
Speaker Series #2
Vicki Twinde-Javner
Tuesday, July 8
6:30 pm
Daily Life at Frontier Forts: Archaeology Yields Evidence. Vicki Twinde-Javner is a Senior Research Archaeologist at the Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center. Free event.
Back for a fifth year with fantastic hands-on experiences! Try your own hand at more than 20 historical skills (including lots of brand new stations + some favorite standbys) for ages five through adult. Free event.
Enduring Skills
Weekend
Sat-Sun, July 26-27
10 to 4 Sat | 12 to 3 Sun
Speaker Series #3
Tamara Funk
Tuesday, August 12
6:30 pm
Haste to the Wedding: Philosophies & Customs of Euro-American Courtship and Weddings in the 18th-20th Centuries. Tamara Funk is a Curator at the Wisconsin Historical Society. Free event.
Juliette Kinzie lived at the Indian Agency here in Portage in the early 1830s. Join Kathe Crowley Conn around the campfire to hear her tell Juliette’s fascinating firsthand stories about what it was like to live in this place almost 200 years ago. Free event for the whole family.
Campfire Series:
"Mrs. Kinzie"
Saturday, September 13
6:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Learn all about the fascinating Euro-American mourning and burial traditions of the 1830s with The Galena Living History Society. Birth, marriage, and death were intimate parts of home & family experiences in the 1800s - different than today. The special tours begin in the visitor center from 10-12 & 1-3. Free event.
Mourning and
Funerals in 1832
Sat., September 20
10 to 4
Campfire Series:
"Voyageur"
Saturday, October 4
6:00 to 7:00 p.m.
French voyageurs were a unique lot with their own captivating hearth & home customs. Hear "Jacques Largillier" (Glenn Gorsuch) tell in first-person what voyageur life was like in 1832. Free event for the whole family.
Hear accomplished storyteller Andi Cloud (Niizuwii, "Rain Woman") tell traditional Ho-Chunk stories. Winter storytelling has been a part of Ho-Chunk life rhythms for centuries, and the stories themselves have something to say about life. Free event for the whole family.
Campfire Series:
Andi Cloud
Saturday, November 8
5 to 6 pm
This season is dedicated in memory of...
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Cissy Van Dyke Scannell Bryson
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Robert Goodman
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Marilyn Grady
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David Hestad
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Jordan Mueller
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Carole Nye
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Pierre Pauquette and Family
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Edward (Ted) Rebholz
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Polly Stone
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George and Lydia Vierheilig
and in honor of...
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Mr. & Mrs. William S. Carpenter
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HIAH Volunteers
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A. Novey
Thank you to those who are making this season's programming, exhibits, and preservation endeavors possible:
Grantors:
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Alliant Energy Foundation - Giving for Good
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Chipstone Foundation
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Cissy VD Bryson Fund at the Greater Milwaukee Foundation
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C.D. Besadny Conservation Fund - Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin
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Community Foundation of South Central Wisconsin
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Dennis Grady - Re-printing of "Trails" learning guide for 2025 season
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Kohler Foundation
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Portage Tourism - City of Portage
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US Fish & Wildlife Service "Partners" Program
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Wisconsin Humanities
Business Sponsors:
...and all of you who help us meet our essential operational needs through your steadfast financial partnership.