When we read this single sentence, we knew wed just found our purpose.Excerpt, Register of Historic Places:WANDAWEGA SHOWS THE INCREASING APPRECIATION OF HISTORIC PRESERVATION & THE AESTHETIC, ROMANTIC, HISTORIC & EMOTIONAL POWER OF A PLACETHAT HAS STOOD AGAINST OUR SEEMINGLY RELENTLESS NEED FOR CONSTANT UPDATING AND CHANGECont…It is a microcosm of the broader history of Wisconsin resorts. In a single property, you can see many aspects of the historical evolution of Wisconsin resorts in the 20th century. The land speculation that gave rise to its initial development was indicative of a resort fever that swept the state in the 1920s as leisure time increased & the rapid spread of automobiles increased mobility & allowed people to leave urban centers to experience natural areas. Its subsequent ties to bootlegging and prostitution are evocative of the unexpected societal impacts of our failed Prohibition experiment & the penetration of the lawlessness into the most remote areas of the state due to its proximity to Chicago. The subsequent ownership of the property by the Catholic Church was a phenomenon found throughout Wisconsins resorting areas as resorts became church properties & functioned as religious retreats because improved transportation infrastructure allowed more to travel to more far-flung locations. Its transformation into a summer camp was in line with a blossoming of camps in the mid 20th century as urban dwellers sent their children to camp as a means to inculcate the values of rural life that they had experienced in their own childhood before seeking the economic opportunities found in larger cities.Many resorts show one or two phases of this evolution, but what makes Wandawega special is that you see all of these aspects in a single site. Its extraordinary state of preservation allows each of the stories to be clearly seen in the physical fabric of the place, creating a powerful slice of time and place that transcends any of these single stories.-Historic Preservation Officer Jim Draeger AMERICAN GETAWAY100 YEARS OF SAINTS & SINNERSThe very strange, very true story of Camp Wandawega(In shop) @austinsailsbury

February 15, 2021 • Published by Tereasa Surratt