Welcome to the Historical Society
~~of~~
Three Lakes,
Wisconsin
Mission Statement and Projects
The Three Lakes
Historical Society Museum is dedicated to preserving area history, supporting
community development and promoting area tourism.
The museum houses
artifacts from the prehistoric past to the logging era, and into the present.
It features cultural displays, pioneer musical instruments, sporting goods, old
maps and much much more.
An old fashioned
perennial flower garden provides the setting for this charming museum; the
Johnson house, which itself is over 100 years old. Our second building,
constructed in 1989, is a replica of a Civilian Conservation Corps barracks.
The exterior and interior lumber of this structure was cut from trees planted
by the CCC in the 1930's.
Sam Campbell , the "Philosopher of the
Forest," "Cy" Williams, famous baseball great, and Carl
Marty's Northernaire
& Showboat displays are but a few of the special exhibits. Our music room
features many antique musical instruments and phonographs. It is named in
memory of Waldemar Waech, a long time member of the historical society, and
donor of many of the instruments.
Our society's
project for Wisconsin's Sesquicentennial celebration is the re-assembling of an
1890 log cabin on the museum's grounds. Officially known as the Grosmann House , it has
already been disassembled, and sits on the grounds where assembly will begin in
spring (see above for updated information). Volunteers are welcome to lend
their experience to help complete the project in time for Three Lakes Pioneer
Day's celebration in August.
The Three Lakes
Historical Society sponsored and developed the Sam Campbell Forest & Hiking
Trail (see above link) in conjunction with the U.S. Forest Service, and was
completed in 1996. This trail is one of the most popular in the Nicolet National
Forest, located on the Old Military Road which is part of the
"Heritage Trail," a National Scenic Byway. A 1 mile extension of this
trail was dedicated in 1997, providing a scenic hike around Vanishing Lake.
Trail markings and sign posts are abundant throughout the trail, and pamphlets
are available at the beginning of the trail showing sites of interest.