T R A V E L
Black Point Estate evokes the days
when wealthy urban families escaped
to Wisconsin to spend the summer.
Likewise, the Well Spa at the Grand Geneva
Resort refreshed our bodies and souls with
deep-tissue massages. This 42,000 squarefoot
spa is home to a multitude of services,
as well as fitness activities, where you can
rejuvenate and refresh yourself.
Since the 20-mile shore footpath around
the lake would take us more than a day
to navigate, we boarded the Walworth,
which is known as the U.S. Mailboat. It is
used during the summer to deliver mail
to the docks along the shore and offers
the excitement of speedy, precarious leaps
to and from the dock, as well as great
guided tours of the large estates as viewed
from their watersides.
Upon our return, we visited two of
the early downtown mansions – the 1856
Maxwell Mansion, the first to be built in
Lake Geneva, and the 1885 Baker House.
After a tour of these two interesting
residences, we went to the Geneva Lake
Museum of History, where we found a
wide variety of interesting displays, that
ranged from an old fashioned dental
office to remnants of Ceyon Court, a home
that was built on the lakefront after having
been on display at the 1893 World’s Fair.
While we were at the Museum, we were
able to see the Pickard Collectors’ Club’s
exhibit of its incredible collection of handpainted
china that is still in production
today.
Also in Walworth County, we visited
the Yerkes Observatory’s 90-foot dome that
was one of the two things Albert Einstein
insisted on seeing during his 1921 trip to the United States.
The Observatory was established in the 1890s by the
University of Chicago and is still used for astrophysical
research.
Our final point of interest was the East Troy Electric
Railroad, Wisconsin’s last interurban line that carried
passengers between East Troy and Milwaukee from 1907
until 1939. It was once part of the state’s broad network of
electric railways, most of which were constructed between
1890 and 1910.
We found Wisconsin’s Walworth County and its Lake
Geneva to be a wonderland of treasures that are waiting to
be discovered and enjoyed.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: The Wisconsin Department of Tourism can be
contacted at (800) 432-8747, tourinfo@travelwisconsin.com,
the Visitors Bureau Walworth County at (800) 395-8887, and
the Lake Geneva Area Convention and Visitors Bureau at (800)
345-1020.
This electric train operates on a six-mile line of track
that was once part of the 385 miles of Wisconsin’s
network of interurban railways.
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015 TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE 149
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