Notable Cities and Towns in Wisconsin

Wisconsin's notable places include preserved 19th-century communities, the Door County resort towns, and the Northwoods lake communities.

Door County Communities
Ephraim (the only dry municipality in Wisconsin — alcohol sales banned since the town's Moravian founding in 1853), Sister Bay (Al Johnson's Restaurant with goats on the grass roof), Fish Creek (the best concentration of fish boil restaurants), and Baileys Harbor (the finest natural harbor in Door County and the home of the Ridges Sanctuary — one of the finest boreal forest relicts in the Midwest) give Door County a rich small-town fabric.

Bayfield
Wisconsin's finest Lake Superior town — the ferry port for Madeline Island and the Apostle Islands boat tours. Bayfield's Victorian-era houses, the apple orchards above the town (the Bayfield Apple Festival in October draws 60,000+ visitors), and the Wilderness Inquiry sea kayaking programs make it the most complete small-town visitor experience in northern Wisconsin.

La Crosse
The finest river town in Wisconsin — the confluence of the Black River, La Crosse River, and Mississippi River; Grandad Bluff (590 feet above the river, finest view in Wisconsin); the Riverside Park Mississippi River Walk; and an active arts and restaurant scene centered around downtown. The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and Viterbo University give it a strong educational base.

Mineral Point
The Cornish immigrant lead mining town — Wisconsin's third oldest city (1827), with the finest collection of Cornish stone architecture in North America. Pendarvis State Historic Site and the galleries and studios of Shake Rag Alley arts complex give Mineral Point an artistic intensity unusual for a town of 2,500.

Cedarburg
A Milwaukee-area suburb with Wisconsin's finest Victorian main street — the Cedarburg Cultural Center, the Cedar Creek Winery (in a 1855 woolen mill), and the covered bridge (one of two surviving covered bridges in Wisconsin) make Cedarburg a rewarding day trip from Milwaukee.