240-acre open-air museum: Step into the past at Wade House in Greenbush
GREEN BUSH -- Brian Kramp spent the morning at Wade House in Greenbush Wisconsin to check out a brand new exhibit.
History of Wade House (website)
In 1844 Sylvanus and Betsey Wade and their family settled in what was to become Greenbush. At that time Wisconsin was a frontier territory. The land between Fond du Lac and Sheboygan was a wilderness of virtually uninterrupted forest. Years later, Betsey Wade would tell her children that the forest was so dense that, even on a clear night, she “could hold in her apron all the stars she could see.”
The Wades were the first permanent settlers in Greenbush. They came to the remote area not to carve a single homestead out of the wilderness, but to establish a village on the developing frontier.
Sylvanus and Betsey Wade selected the location for their village carefully. They chose a place halfway between Sheboygan and Fond du Lac along a well-used stagecoach trail. The Mullet River crossed the trail, offering a promising source of water power. The Wades purchased several sections of land around a potential mill site as well.