9-27-10 / 3-9-14 / 6-29-14

This was our first visit to Spring Green in 4 years.  An interesting fact, famous mural painter Richard Haas was born here.  Not all of Spring Green’s attractions are downtown,  several are outside of the main city.  Frank Lloyd Wright’s influence is especially prevalent here, much more than his hometown of Richland Center.   We have seen his work all over Wisconsin, but the most seem to be in this area. Taliesin is a major attraction in the summer months. we also stopped at the nearby Frank Lloyd Wright Visitor Center,   not open until May also.  If you wish to take a tour of Taliesin, you begin here. Frank Lloyd Wright was such an influence in Spring Green, there is a marker describing just that.

In the 1800s, this site has an interesting history.  The Wisconsin River can be seen over the sign.

More of Wright’s work, the only school designed by him, now the Wyoming Valley School Cultural Art’s Center.  Open in summer and fall.

A hotel was also designed by one of his apprentices, J.C. Caraway, The Usonian Inn.

The Theatrical Arts are also well represented in the area. American Players Theatre is performed on an outdoor stage, a very popular venue.

The White Church Theatre Project is a new addition to the theater scene, offering education in the theatrical arts.

As you might expect,  many interesting and historic buildings are in Spring Green, many of them designed by Taliesin associates.  The Round Barn Lodge and Restaurant and Hayloft Cafe catch the eye as you drive by on US 14. It was a 1914 Dairy Barn originally. Designed by Jim Pfefferkorn, 1973 and 1979.

Rite-Way Plaza was a former Philip’s station. Built of Limestone, designed by James Charles Mantooth, 1995.

These buildings are located on the Northside of town.   We especially like this one. The business here is The Opal Man- Gallery of Opals.  This unique building was a Johnson Oil gas station in 1926. This is the ONLY ALL- Opal jewelry gallery in North America.

On 242 N. Lexington is “The White School”, built 1877.  This picture was from our 2014 visit.

Now we head to the downtown area for many more. This is a view looking west on Jefferson St, their “Main Street”.

The first stop is the Chamber of Commerce, which used to be a bank drive-up! It was designed by William Wesley Peters in 1975. You can pick up area information here, just go in.

Going a bit further down the street, also on the right, we see a medical building created to attract a physician to Spring Green in 1961.

Then we get to Nina’s which has been in Spring Green since 1916.  The building’s facade is what it looked like in the 1920’s.  The history is quite interesting, still in the family after 4 generations.

The Shed is part of the Post Block that was established in 1894.

This building was particularly impressive, it once was the Spring Green State Bank.  Now, it’s Freddy Valentine’s Public House restaurant.

It was close to 11:00, so we headed back to the other end on the street and turned right on Albany St. These colorful buildings of the Albany Street Shops brightened up the dark day we had.

Across the street was our final destination of the day, the Spring Green General Store. We first discovered this store on our first visit here in 2010, they serve a great lunch in their cafe and we looked forward to another lunch here.

The interior of the store is bright and cheerful, here is the front of the cafe.

We ordered our food, owner Karin Miller came over to our table and greeted us. What a nice lady!  She shared with us the many events that take place in Spring Green in the summer. It is a busy place! Then our food arrived, yum! Here is the Frito Pie we enjoyed on our first visit too.  We returned June 29 for their Arts and Crafts Fair and enjoyed lunch again. Al had a Hummus Sandwich and I had an Italian sub, delicious!

 

 

As we concluded our visit, we planned on coming back soon.  The next chance will be the Spring Green Arts and Crafts Fair the weekend of June 28 and 29, 2014.

We did make it back for the fair and had a great time! So many items that we wanted to get, but couldn’t at this time.  At least we got contact information from the artists.

 

For a really great view of the Infinity Room at House on the Rock overlooking the Wyoming Valley, go to this Scenic Overlook. The address is 5945-5998 WI. Hwy 23 just outside of Spring Green. You exit off the highway in either direction and park in the lot. Then you walk a short trail to the overlook. What a great view.  I was able to even see the people inside of the Infinity Room!

 

Spring Green has so much going on, we plan on returning often.