Thinkstock / Maggie Vaughn / Shepherd Express
Looking to get better acquainted with your city, Milwaukeeans? Here are some tours of general civic interest and middling admission cost to help you fill your summer hours.
If you too want to marry a lighthouse keeper, you’ll have to look further than the North Point Lighthouse, which hasn’t held keeper’s quarters since 1994. But, in addition to educating you about an iconic Milwaukee maritime landmark, touring the premises will certainly give you a better sense of the life you are marrying into. Dating back to 1851, the lighthouse has guided a sesquicentennial’s worth of ships safely to land, and its history intertwines that of Milwaukee with the developments of contemporary seafaring. Tours of the North Point Lighthouse are offered year-round on Saturdays and Sundays from 1-4 p.m. Special summer hours have been added on Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. through August. General admission is $5. More information here.
Sure, the Milwaukee Riverwalk is home to the Bronze Fonz as well as countless cafés and selfie-worthy vistas. But insights into its ingenious design are just as much the subject of Historic Milwaukee, Inc.’s Thursday evening tours of the Riverwalk. While you amble along the waterway, a certified tour guide will discuss the Riverwalk itself as well as the histories and styles of the buildings that flank the river. The tours begin at 6 p.m., last an hour and a half and cost $10 for non-members of Historic Milwaukee, Inc. Tickets can be purchased here.
|
|
The Cedarburg Cultural Center wins the award for most tours offered this summer. From 12-4 p.m. on Saturdays through August 22, tours will be offered of the CCC’s Kuhefuss House Museum. Located in the heart of Cedarburg’s downtown National Historic District, the historic property was called home by five generations of Kuhefuss’, one of Cedarburg’s oldest families. The modest admission is $3, which contributes to the maintenance of the historic treasure.
Then, on August 1-2, the CCC is holding its 46th Annual Architectural Treasures Tour of five distinctive properties in Cedarburg and Mequon. The featured properties are as follows: the Erbes’ home – a 1990’s property built to incorporate details of a Eleutherian Mills, a nineteenth century gunpowder mill in Delaware. The Keller/Rushing home – an 1870's Stick-style Victorian that has been restored with a strict insistence on authenticity. An 1855 stone home that is one of Cedarburg’s original farmsteads. A 2003 loft in the MKB Building based upon an 1840’s blacksmith shop that once stood in its spot. The Jonathan Clark House Museum, which transports visitors back to the conditions of 1848-1857 rural life when it was probably just known as “that place where Jonathan Clark lives.” More information on the event here.
