choose another county

"Discovered at the bottom of the Sheboygan harbor, the sunken ruins of the Lottie Cooper, built in 1876 and lost in gale force winds on Lake Michigan in 1894, are now on display in Deland Park, part of the Harbor Centre Marina. Self-tours and guided tours are available of this once great three masted schooner that has been recovered and re-assembled; it is today only a reminder of the 700 vessels lost in Lake Michigan. "
- section from Sheboygan County Entertainment website

What we have here is a priceless collection of roadside oddities from Wisconsin and elsewhere.
When you have retirees with a lot of time, ambition, wire and cement on their hands, you'll get some damn fine head-turning yard art.  Of course there are others who are life-long artistes whose bizarre talents are shown here as well.  But hats off to the Kohler Foundation for restoring several of the sites around the state and assembling a few items from each for their permanent collection.
The Kohler Arts Center has always kept some examples on display, but for a limited time it was expanded as a special exhibit.

Included were these Wisconsin artists:

"One of the most unusual aspects of the John Michael Kohler Arts Center's 99,000 square-foot facility is its six public washrooms, each of which was created by an outstanding American artist in the Arts Center's renowned Arts/Industry program."
- section from Official Site

Also, it is important to note that the Kohler Arts Center (in conjunction with the Kohler Foundation) displays collections of work from the great 'Yard Artists' from around the state: Fred Smith, Mary Nohl, Nick Engelbert, and more.

  608 New York Avenue
Sheboygan, WI  53082

hours:
(Mon, Wed, Fri)  10am – 5pm
(Tues & Thurs)  10am – 8pm  /  (Sat & Sun)  10am – 4pm

"Aiming to style himself as a singing “rhinestone cowboy” modeled after Glen Campbell’s song, Loy Bowlin of McComb, Mississippi, became the maker of a remarkable art environment. To boost his spirits, he turned a brightly colored suit into a painted and festooned glamour costume and headed for town with his harmonica. He enjoyed the laughter and attention the decorated suit received and he quickly became known as the “The Original Rhinestone Cowboy.” His persona needed a backdrop, and thus he embellished his small home with glitter, cut paper, magazine pictures, ornaments, and spangles. People came from miles around to visit the “Holy Jewel Home,” and the Rhinestone Cowboy who lived there. After Bowlin’s death, the house was slated for demolition, but was saved, virtually at the last minute, in front of the wrecking crew and dismantled piece by piece. Today, the preserved Holy Jewel Home itself stands inside an Arts Center gallery and, along with many of his fancy suits, hats, and furniture, is the only comprehensively relocated environment in the Permanent Collection."
- section from Kohler Museum official website

"The centerpiece of the 36,000-square-foot building is the soaring 'great wall of china,' where toilets and bidets are stacked to the ceiling and artfully surrounded by elegant tubs and sinks. The wall's nearly 300 items come in shades such as 'wild rose,' 'innocent blush,' 'thunder grey' and 'Mexican sand.' "
- section from MKE Online website

  444 Highland Dr.
Kohler, WI  53044

hours:
(Mon - Fri)  8am – 5pm  /  (Sat, Sun & Holidays)  10am – 4pm
CLOSED THANKSGIVING & CHRISTMAS
Factory Tours are conducted weekdays at 8:30am

"Beginning in 1942 and continuing until his death in 1957, James A. Tellen created over 30 historic, religious and mythic figures within the woods surrounding his family's summer cottage in the Black River area of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. An assembly of both life-size and miniature characters, the sculptures are arranged in lifelike tableaux, using the natural environment as a kind of ready-made stage set, with the actors turned to stone. Collectively, they take on a magical, almost surrealistic relationship with their natural surroundings -- and provide a window to the artist's soul."
- section from Kohler Foundation website

  Evergreen Drive
Sheboygan, WI  53081

hours:
Contact John Michael Kohler Arts Center to arrange a tour:

This concrete-faced fence was finished in 1976, displaying images of the Keystone Cops, Russian Cossacks, Vikings and other sculpted beings.  Full story is in the book "Weird Wisconsin".

  Kiwanis Park
south of Highway 23 on N 17th Street
Sheboygan, WI  53081

hours:
2006:  August 4 - 6

  south of Highway 67 & Mill Street

Old Glory is having her share of problems in Sheboygan.
Back in 2003, Acuity Insurance put up (on the grounds of their corporate headquarters, with much fanfare) a 60' by 30' American flag which hung on a 150-foot-tall flagpole.  Unfortunately, when the winds reached 40 mph, the flagpole fell to the ground.  In 2005, a second attempt was made with a massive 338-foot-tall, 65-ton flagpole which was designed to hold up a new 120' by 60' flag, but that was taken down due to maintenance issues in October 2007.  A third, improved flagpole was erected in April 2008, but that too was dismantled due to concerns for its structural integrity.  It seems as if the flagpole project is on hold for the time being, but hopefully soon we shall look high, high up in the sky to see the stars & stripes waving over Sheboygan again.

  N5635 Frontage Rd.
Plymouth, WI  53073

Lake Monster Pulls Fisherman into Lake  (1890s)

Now if only he was using a Daiwa SLD20 2-speed Lever Drag Reel with the Dual-Disc Drag “DSG505” Wet Drag System, which offers up to 50% more surface area for ultra-smooth, ultra-consistent performance, this would've never happened.

Sheboygan UFO Sightings

"The thing that was extremely odd was that this object or objects had three distinct equally bright points of light that all moved in formation at exactly the same speed and direction."
- section from UFO Wisconsin 06-17-00 report

Blinking Object Observed  (2000)

"The night was very clear and I first thought it was a very bright star, but it appeared to be blinking red, green and blue lights."
- section from UFO Wisconsin report

Veterans Park

Howards Grove UFO Sightings

"The lights were only approx. the size of bowling balls, they were approx. 30 yards away. They started to go higher and then suddenly split into 6 red lights."
- section from UFO Wisconsin 09-06-01 report

Sheboygan Falls  /  Kohler
UFO Sightings

"...I saw two red lights that flashed white flying in a small v- shaped form and then opening up wider."
- section from UFO Wisconsin 03-26-03 report

Sheboygan River Railroad Bridge

Plymouth UFO Sightings

"A large quiet moving object that has dim star like lights that formed a triangle like shape."
- section from UFO Wisconsin 10-16-01 report

Glenbeulah Graveyard
aka Walnut Grove Cemetery

It seems that this old, picturesque cemetery has caught the attention of many folks interested in the paranormal.  It's also attracted a few gutless vandals over the years.   Because of this, the property's visiting hours (7am to 7pm) are strictly enforced.

Supposedly a man hung himself in this graveyard, yet continues to walk around here after midnight.  A certain grave is said to glow and a pair of shoes has been known to suddenly appear atop another grave (for some unknown reason).  Other paranormal phenomena have been described in vague detail.  It is debatable whether or not the cemetery was once featured on the TV show Unsolved Mysteries or whether it was rated the third most haunted graveyard in the world.  Online talk would point in that direction, but no real evidence has surfaced.

Freaky Lights  (2003)

"That's when my husband noticed a bright light, behind our barn. He assumed it was a plane, until 5 minutes later, when it was still there, he went to look out the window. He saw three large bright white lights, in a vertical formation."
- section from UFO Wisconsin report

Riverbend Mansion
( Old Governor's Mansion)

If you ask me, the cold spots people feel as they walk through the mansion is the sudden realization they paid $150,000 for membership here.  At least the use of a small electric boat is thrown in with the deal.

Cylinder-shaped Craft Sighted  (2005)

"It appeard (sic) about the size of a dime, but was probably as big as a silo or larger depending on its elevation and distance north of me."
- section from UFO Wisconsin report

Mysterious Noise

"The noise stopped for one minute and i felt cold."
- section from UFO Wisconsin report

Haunted Stop Sign

"Indian family used to live in a house near a stop sign. Rumors say that the husband killed his wife and children brutally. Rumors say that if you go there late at night and stop at the stop sign then high beam the stop sign you will see blood dripping down for the sign. Then you will hear the Indian guy walk towards you and sing Indian songs. As he walks towards you, his footsteps get louder and louder."
- section from The Shadowlands website

Good thing Dan was there to verify this... (2007)

"We were shining deer one late sunday night when all the sudden an unidentified flying hovercraft object appeared."
- section from UFO Wisconsin report

Father's Day Sasquatch Sighting (2005)

"As they rounded a bend in the road a creature stood up in the right hand side ditch and bolted across the road from right to left and quickly disappeared into the forest."
- section from Wisconsin Bigfoot report

US Bank
(formerly First Star Bank)

"Ghosts of America" Haunted Location Reports
(take with a grain of salt)

The reports on this site are presumably fiction, using random Wisconsin place names in the stories listed there.  Even so, you might get a kick out of reading them.

Sheboygan Yacht Club

June Vollrath Park
aka Lions Park

Wade House and Wesley Jung Carriage Museum

Also listed in the History section below. 

The American Club

"Escape to where village charm meets old-world elegance." reads the official website for the American Club.  "Experience a wide variety of KOHLER® bath and shower installations, fine tile and design accents from Ann Sacks, and selections from our lines of Baker and McGuire fine furniture and accessories." it adds.  But does the website brag about the room where the woman hung herself?  Does it speak proudly about the room where another woman was murdered and about how spirits associated with these events have been witnessed on multiple occasions?  Not it does not.  Nor does it point out the other paranormal occurrences that take place in this AAA Five Diamond Resort Hotel.  But it does mention the twig baskets containing Nueske’s Summer Sausage that can be purchased on the premises.

House of Holy

A local haunted house.  I believe this is a WIX website exclusive.

Gilbert Huson House Bed and Breakfast
aka Yankee Hill Inn Bed and Breakfast

"This 100 year old railroad station houses original depot furnishings, clippings, photos and memorabilia which chronicle our resort community’s history. The Depot is on the National Register of Historic Places."
- section from the Elkhart Lake Official Site

  104 S East St.
Elkhart Lake, WI  53020

hours:
Memorial Day thru Labor Day  10am – 5pm

  1100 W Riverside Dr.
Kohler, WI  53044

hours:
(daily)  tours at 2pm, 3pm, 4pm

"The museum houses stone tools, projectile points, pottery, copper implements, bone tools and much more.  You'll be shown how the Native Americans threw their weapons--utilizing a tool called an ATLATL."
- section from the Official Site

  N8551 Holstein Rd.
Elkhart Lake, WI  53020

hours:
Memorial Day thru Labor Day  (Tues - Sa)  1pm – 5pm

"Take a walk in the past at the Plymouth Historical Museum located in The Plymouth Center. View the wonderful exhibits including a blacksmith shop and the Curtiss Vintage Clothing Collection."
- section from the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce website

"Wade House, an 1860s stagecoach inn built to serve traffic along the plank road that connected Fond du Lac and Sheboygan, tells the story of frontier entrepreneur Sylvanus Wade and his family during the Civil War years. In addition to the inn, the historic site includes the recently reconstructed Herrling sawmill, one of the few working, water-powered sawmills of its kind in the nation. Wade House is also home to the Wesley Jung Carriage Museum, which houses the state's largest collection of antique carriages and working wagons."
- section from the Portal Wisconsin website

  W7747 Plank Road
Greenbush, WI  53026

hours:
mid-May thru mid-October  (daily)  9am – 5pm

This 50-foot cast-iron tower, built in 1906 and moved to the pier in 1915, replaced a stone lighthouse that had served the city since 1839.