What the attractions include at the resort he IS staying at (The House on the Rock), The Sea Creature:
Posted on 09/28/2004 6:44:19 PM PDT by Land_of_Lincoln_John
SPRING GREEN, Wis. - Sen. John Kerry is spending four days at a resort in this community of 1,400 in the scenic hill country of southwestern Wisconsin, 35 miles west of Madison, seeking solitude as he prepares for his first debate with President Bush.
He is not the first person to come to Spring Green pursuing seclusion. Among the famous people who preceded him here was Svetlana Stalina, daughter of the late Soviet tyrant Josef Stalin. Devastated by her father's misdeeds, she famously defected from the Soviet Union and sought tranquility at a private estate here.
Then there was Spring Green's best known son, Frank Lloyd Wright. He built a school for "organic" architecture here that redefined the American concept of fine building design. Wright often fled his office in Chicago seeking creative energy from his 600-acre estate overlooking the broad Wisconsin River here. In fact, he often made the trip in the company of his mistress, leaving behind his wife and children at their Oak Park home.
Taliesin, Wright's masterpiece, was the scene of a mass murder in August 1914, when a deranged servant set fire to Taliesin, then killed seven people with an ax as they tried to escape. The victims included Wright's mistress, her two children and other guests. (Wright was in Oak Park.) The rebuilt mansion, a national historic treasure, still stands at the brow of a hill, attracting thousands of tourists each year.
For recreation, Kerry can make use of a championship golf course at the House on the Rock Resort where he is staying. He might not see windsurfers following a favorite pastime on the Wisconsin River, but if he enjoys fishing, canoeing, tubing, bicycling or motorcycling, he can join the thousands drawn here by the river, the quiet country roads and secluded hollows. The state of Wisconsin created a special governmental authority to help preserve forever the natural condition of the Wisconsin River Valley between here and the Mississippi.
Unique setting
Spring Green is in the "driftless" region, an area of ancient limestone hills and steep ravines unique in the upper Midwest. The glaciers that formed the landscape of most of the region never reached here. The landscape changes dramatically, from rolling glacial countryside to rugged, unglaciated landscapes just a few miles west of Madison on U.S. 14, the Frank Lloyd Wright Memorial Highway. Many of the area's early settlers, like Wright's family, were from Wales, attracted by the lead mines and available farmland.
In the late 20th century, family farming declined in the steep hills and sandy soil, and many upscale homes are now secluded in the forested hillsides, often invisible to passersby. In the township surrounding Taliesin, the minimum lot size is 40 acres, and many of those residences are second homes. Restoration projects funded by prairie enthusiasts dot nearby bluffs and fields depleted by generations of farming.
Tourism brings 500,000 people to the area each year, and the draws include Taliesin, House on the Rock, American Players Theater and two state parks.
Aside from tourism, the main industry in Spring Green is Cardinal Glass, a leading manufacturer of double-paned window glass, and the community blends the feel of typical small-town America with a highly developed arts community. The American Players Theater, with an outdoor amphitheater half a mile from Kerry's hideaway, is a professional theater company that draws its summer audience from Madison, Milwaukee and the Chicago suburbs. Its fare blends Shakespeare and more recent playwrights.
Chicago connection
The quality of life in Spring Green has attracted many from Chicago's suburbs as permanent residents. The hub of the artist community in Spring Green, and a popular tourist attraction, is the General Store, a breakfast, lunch and gathering place run by Todd Miller and his wife, Karin. Todd is a native of Elgin. He met Karin while he worked for an organic beef farm in Barrington Hills and she at an organic food store in Evanston. The Millers left suburbia 11 years ago seeking a high quality community and school environment to raise their daughter. They bought the General Store and built on its reputation as an informal, folksy spot where actors often hobnob with townsfolk. Miller is Spring Green's former mayor and is now running for a seat in the General Assembly, Wisconsin's lower house.
Hill Street, the town's popular bed-and-breakfast, is run by a pair of former Northwest suburban residents, Jay and Kelly Phelps, who followed their dream to an old Victorian home in Spring Green. Kelly was a pastry chef at the Hamilton Hotel when it was, well, the Hamilton Hotel. Needless to say, her breakfasts draw a lot of repeat visitors. If Kerry tunes in to the local lore, he might just drop by to ask for Kelly's vote - and one of her breakfast pastries.
There's a joke about a chameleon somewhere in here....
Notice he is staying away from his beloved Nantuckett.
I suspect that orange look is a way to connect with WI voters, he looks like a "Cheddar Cheese Head".
"Taliesin, Wright's masterpiece, was the scene of a mass murder in August 1914, when a deranged servant set fire to Taliesin, then killed seven people with an ax as they tried to escape. The victims included Wright's mistress, her two children and other guests."
WOW! File this under: Learn something new everyday!
I spent all day Sunday & all day today out in Central Wisconsin sunshine...I didn't turn orange; in fact, I'm barely pink. Kerry's orange color reminds me of that old sunless tanning product called QT, Quik Tan. That stuff will turn your skin orange. I wonder if the aged widow Heinz had a bottle of that stuff lurking in the medicine cabinet?
http://chemistry.about.com/library/weekly/aa022602a.htm
There's more: The mistress was the wife of one of Wright's clients. Scandalous today, beyond shocking in 1914.
"Scandalous today, beyond shocking in 1914."
The more I learn about the midwest in the early part of the last century, the more I am shocked, just shocked!
FREEP this town.
I also hail from Oak Park. My father was delivered by Ernest Hemingway's father. I was working at the Badger Ammunition plant in the early 70s (representing a Chicago construction firm), and traveled the area. I went searching for Taliesen, not publicized at the time because it was not open to the public. On that winter day when I arrived there, it was boarded up, abandoned. I removed a board, and spent the afternoon roaming the rooms. It was most amazing to see them strewn with architectural drawings, as if the students (among them Stalin's daughter, as mentioned in the article) ran from the place because of a return of the axe fellow. I still don't know whay it was in the state it was in.
Might not be necessary. Central WI is pretty conservative. But a FReep might be fun anyway.
think I need to take a bike ride bump.
He is spending four days in solitude?
What is with this guy? I think he spent a couple of days alone by the ocean to prepare for democratic convention also. Is he meditating on his innner zen, finding his secret animal ?...
President Bush is preparing for debates by going over statements Kerry made during this campaing and having mock debates with his debate coaches. That's what normal politicians do...
That must have been incredible! I'm sure you'll never forget it. Did you happen to have a camera with you?
It was eerie. No, no camera. Really too bad. Imagine my shock to return over 20 years later to see the industry it had become.
"Not much call? It's the single most popular cheese in the world!"
What the attractions include at the resort he IS staying at (The House on the Rock), The Sea Creature:
My Father carved that horse, and the owner bought it when Dad died. It is a beautiful horse. In fact, when Dad died, we took many things to the funeral home. This horse was one of many things. My Dad was an artist, photographer, carver, painter, and Classic Car enthusiast. So we had everything from a 1915 Model T, a 1931 Buick, a 1935 Rolls Royce...to paintings, photographs he won the Wi. State Title for Best Photographer of the year..and this Carousel Horse that now graces the Lobby of House on the Rock, Delavan.
I was hoping that Kerry was staying at the new Inn, and that the Carousel would DUMP on his feet..(even if I had to drive there with new horse manure ! )
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