The Bayfield Maritime Museum, which like most northern museums operates seasonally, will be open daily through the fall. The beautiful brownstone structure, originally a bank, would be reason enough to stop, but its local history exhibits on lumbering and dynamite production are worthwhile, as well. Don't miss the tall stone obelisk in front that commemorates a much larger monolith that was to be Washburn's gift to the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. The Madeline Island Historical Museum, a State Historical Society of Wisconsin site. Long before Wisconsin became a state, Indians and fur trappers built a thriving industry on the Apostle Islands.
Exhibits cover the Ojibwa people, voyageurs, lumberjacks and the fishermen who followed.
Carl's Wood Art Museum, Eagle River. I feared it would be woodcarver kitsch, but founder Carl Schels Sr. was accomplished beyond imagination. The collection of burls is enlightening, but the amazing carvings of Carl, and now his son, Ken, are the real draw. Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on July 12, 2000. All rights reserved.