A small prairie village on the banks of the Wisconsin River would seem to be an unlikely mecca for American architecture, but this is where Frank Lloyd Wright, who was born nearby in 1867 only 10 years after the town’s founding, chose to build his home and studio on a favorite hill from his youth. Tours of Wright’s Taliesin estate range from one hour to an all-inclusive four hours.
Planning a visit? Stay at Wisconsin Riverside Resort.
In the 1940s, Alex Jordan constructed a house on a sandstone formation named Deer Shelter Rock that attracted so much attention he was forced to open the architectural wonder as a tourist attraction. Today, the House on the Rock boasts a complex of buildings, collections and gardens for visitors.
The Wisconsin River is ideal for float tours and on the south bank Tower Hill State Park shows off the deeply carved valleys of Wisconsin’s Driftless area, so named because it avoided the scraping of glaciers from the last ice age. For more than 35 years the American Players Theatre has drawn some of the largest audiences in the country for outdoor classical Shakespeare productions in its outdoor amphitheater overlooking the river.
