Wisconsin.

WISCONSIN.

SPRING GREEN AND WISCONSIN RV RESORT.

Spring Green was to be our 'host' for the next few days, it was a typical small rural American town, complete with a small supermarket, a couple of restaurants and a bank. So we had all that we needed for a brief stop. Located just inside the Town limits, was our next campground.

Main Street, Spring Green. WI.

Shops, Main Street, Spring Green. WI.

This old bank is now a restaurant, Main Street, Spring Green. WI.

The 'new' bank, Main Street, Spring Green. WI.

This site has just had new owners and a new name, it was called Bobs RV Resort, but its new title is now Wisconsin RV Resort. It provided us with a great location for the visit to "The House on the Rock" which we were told is a must to see ,hence the short stay of 3 nights, as we pass through Wisconsin.

Entrance to Wisconsin RV Resort, Spring Green. WI.

Onsite, Wisconsin RV Resort, Spring Green. WI.

Very nice campground.

This Chipmunk visited our RV everyday.

THE HOUSE ON THE ROCK.

I have to say we were not to sure what to expect, the name conjures up a house on a rock and nothing more, so after breakfast on Friday morning we set off to investigate this mystery house, and all the 'hype' that surrounds it! It was only a 20min drive and we were there at the entrance, and apart from large wrought iron gates and a very nice statue and water fall for the visitors, there was not alot to see really, we began thinking if it was as good as people had told us it was!

One of the many 'Urns' at the main entrance.

A Photo of The House On The Rock.

Alex Jordans Poem.

We proceeded to park the car and went to the main reception desk to find out how much the addmision fee was, what we might see, and how long it would take us to see the house and we were told around 3 hours, which at this point none of the house is visable, so the mystery continued! We were told that the total cost was $26-50 per person,but of course if you only want to see tour 1 the cost is less the same if you see tour 2 you have the choice,we decided to take all 3 tours and make a day of it.

Large statue at the main reception.

We were given a booklet telling us all about Alex Jordan the man behind this architectural marvel ,he had the vision and believed that sights and sounds were the most effective means of stimulating the senses,I am going to try and tell you about this amazing house and it is a hard task, believe me with the help of photos I hope you can see what treasures this house holds.

Tiffany Lamps held by Mermaid.

Mermaid.

Another Tiffany Lamp.

Alex Jordan was a Taxi driver and was a great collector of anything and everything no matter what ,he also liked to be in the countryside where it was peaceful, and used to visit a rock called Deer Shelter Rock. After many visits he enquired about buying the rock and this being achieved in the 1940's he proceded to build his house! This "chimney" of rock is 60 feet high and his only access was a rope ladder, but he did manage to build his retreat, unfortunately the people from the surrounding areas became intrigued to know what he was doing up on the top of this rock and would turn up and shout for him to drop down the ladder so they could visit. Alex then knew he would not get any peace so he opened it to the public in 1960 the first year, having charged 50cents per person, he totalled $5000!!

A collection of Masks!

Alex Jordan designed, and made, this lamp.

This is what the People climbed the ladder to see! oriental art,stained glass,bronze statues,a three story bookcase filled with rare books but of course as the house grew so did the collection and with the proceeds he just kept adding rooms.

The Infifnity Room, Stretching out over the valley.

Another view of the Infinity Room.

View from the Infinity Room.

As we continued through the first rooms we came upon the Infinity Room which projects out over the Wyoming Valley 218 feet, and it contains 3,264 windows and a glass floor, looking down the valley below. We then came to the Millhouse which opened in 1968 and houses some of the first collections of Alex Jordan, which consist of an enormous fire place, complete with a tree in it,suits of armour,guns, dolls and mechanical banks.

This was a musical instrument, set in the wall.

One of the large Fireplaces.

And large Bellows, filled with Paperweights.

Streets of yesterday which opened in 1971, is a 19th century main street laid with bricks and has old time gas street lamps, it also is complete with a variety of shops that have goods to sell what they advertise, and also a sheriff's office, the local dentist and a house complete with 'well to do' furniture laid out as they would have had it years ago, as we got to the top of this street we came upon a large Music Machine (some of these items had the rooms built around them, after they were 'sited' they are that big!)

Streets of Yesteryear, Doll Shop.

The Old Fire-Station. Check out the Dalmation, under the table!!

And Faberge Shop.

Looking up the Street.

Another View of The Street.

One of the houses on the Street....

And another house.....

And a carriage outside.

This was also in The Street!

This 'carriage' was towards the end of the street.

One of the many ornate sleighs.

The Heritage of the Sea was the next room and as you enter it your eyes are drawn to the 200ft sea creature that is struggling with an enormous octopus, (who do you know who has a room that can accomodate this!!) Also in this room there is a display of 200 large model ships and the biggest collection of Titanic memrobilia .

One of the biggest collections of original Titanic memorobilia in the World!

Every room we turn into is a complete surprise and the next one is no exception the Music of Yesterday, which opened in 1974 and has the greatest collection of animated and automated music machines, you can get tokens to put in these machines and they play, dont get the idea that these are just small child size musical toys either, you could not be more wrong I just hope the photos do these rooms justice.

Music of Yesterday.

This is a huge musical instrument! Look carefully, all the figures 'played' as did the giant harp in the middle!!

There was five rooms which I am going to list like Tribute to Nostalgia which opened in 1995 dedicated to all things nostalgic, the Blue room, the Peacook, the Mikado and the Red room, further down the hall is the Spirit of Aviation, which opened in June 2002 which has vintage model airplanes along with the history.

Spirit of Aviation.

If I could have one wish at this moment it would be for all of you reading this blog to see this next room because Pete had used up all the battery on the video camera and I was not far off using the battery up on the camera, the "Carousel"it was unveiled on Easter weekend in 1981,

Here we go.....
The Giant Carousel




Not one Horse!!


Winged Figures above The Carousel.....

And a huge Chandelier.

Complete with 20,000 lights, 269 hand crafted animals and I might add, not one horse, it measures 35ft tall 80ft wide and weighs 35 tons, and took 10 years to build. The fact that it was working with the music of the old Carousel from the fair ground took me back and I was spellbound ,the ceiling was covered with full size figures, flying, and the walls covered with the merry -go -round -horses. The rooms would hold you in and with the amount of things in of them you can forget 3 hrs, i can tell you!!.And, if you need the restrooms, well, you will be in for another surprise because Alex had used these as like all the other rooms, and there was a collection in each of them too!

We continue on to the Organ room which as is the norm with this house "look up folks" because these are not your teach yourself to play Organs, they are two story's high,
Now its through to the Dolls House collection which consist of 250 exquisite dolls houses, and its not only the sheer number but its the fact that they are detailed right down to the cookies on the plates, and all have electicity, carry on through to the Circus Room, displayed with one million pieces and every single tent in the display has all the animals you used to see at the circus , at this time we thought we could not be surprised anymore but we got that so wrong because around the next corner there was an 80 piece orchestra which took 14 people three years to create with 37 miles of wiring, 31 blowers, 2300 pneumatic motors and added to this room is a complete collection of Baranger motions which featured in fine jewellery stores in the 20s ,30s,40s, and 50s.

Every little girl's dream.....

These Doll's houses were amazing!!



And perfect in every detail!!




Full, lifesize, all playing, 80 piece orchestra! Just amazing to see and hear!!





The Organ Room.

Well by this time we cannot believe how much more this man could have collected, its just amazing, you may have guessed, but by now he had employed teams of people on his behalf to search the world for items, just to put in his house.
The next room is called the Galleries, and has, among other things, a fine collection of Weapons, the second section is Oriental Collection, the third is an Armour Collection with King Arthurs Knights of the round table. Samurai armor is of the Shogun section and Alex Jordans creation of Hannibal crossing the Alps. The Crown Jewel Collection was great as it featured replicas of the Tower of London Crown Jewels, well we hope they were replicas, also there were items of Royalty and crowns of fancy.

Actual 'lifesize' Elephants and Figures.

I was so glad I had put on my comfy shoes ,but we were at the last room and it was the Doll Carousel Room, here was two carousels that display over 500 dolls, and so that you get to see the whole of these carousels and the dolls on it, they make the floor go around like a cork screw so you climb higher watching the dolls travel around, all in there fine costums and lovely hair styles,on the other side of the room and leading us towards the exit was the "Four Horsemen of the Apocalyspe" and as these were high up in the room we walked up the path and on closer inspection they were very evil looking which was a shock as we had not seen anything that represented horrow or evil, but they were full size and fasinating! You may have guessed by know we had nothing to take any photos with but i did treat us to a beautiful book from the 'House on the Rock' gift shop, a momento to look back at, because no matter how we try to tell people about this place you have to see this mans dream, to believe it. I have not covered all of what we saw but we did photograph as much as possible and with the same dreams and vison that Alex Jordan had ,try and see the photos through his eyes because thats what he wanted to share with you and,of course so do we.

Dolls Carousel

So, to cap it all then, one of the most amazing and fascinating houses we have ever visited. The rooms keep you spellbound with every turn. If you are ever in the Southwestern tip of Wisconsin, a visit to The House on the Rock' is surely a must. We found it good value for money at around $50, for both of us, and we were in the house for around 5 hours.

Please bear in mind that some parts of the house were a little dark, so excuse some of the photos. We took over 3 hours of Video and over 400 photographs, and only a few of which can be seen above.

Next instalment takes us into 'Cowboy Country' South Dakota, and Historical Custer!!