The Sauk County Historical Museum in the Van Orden Mansion will open for the season on Friday, May 3 at noon. The museum will then be open Friday and Saturday afternoons from 12 to 4 pm through October. In addition to all of the great permanent exhibits, this year’s temporary museum-wide exhibit is titled When I Was a Kid – Toys, Tasks, and Technology.

The Society will celebrate Sauk County’s first historian on April 9. Since 2001, Canfield Day has been held on or near the birthday of William H. Canfield who was born on April 9, 1819 in upstate New York and died in 1913…Canfield kept a journal most of his life which helped him tell the history of the area in the newspaper and in booklets that he published. Canfield also met hundreds of people through his work as a surveyor which took him across Sauk County and he started publishing their stories.

The story of Baraboo and before Baraboo will be the topic of three presentations given by SCHS Executive Director Paul Wolter. The presentations are co-sponsored by the Carnegie-Schadde Memorial Public Library and will be held in the library’s new auditorium. The presentations will be held on Thursday evenings beginning at 6:30 pm on the following dates: February 1 and 22 and March 14. The three presentations will each cover different topics beginning with the river and taking the story of Baraboo up to the advent of the Ringling Brothers Circus.

Christmas at the Mansion returns this year with three days to experience the warmth, charm, and cheer of the holiday season. Throughout the historic Van Orden Mansion twelve real Christmas trees and the rooms they are in will be decorated taking inspiration from this year’s theme – “Stories of Christmas.” From the Nativity story to modern classics,

Date? October 26, 2023

Where? Vintage Brewing Company, 500 Water Street, Sauk City

The annual meeting, including election of board members, will begin at 7 pm followed by the SCHS Year in Review and the keynote presentation on Voices of the Civil War by Bev Vaillancourt..

Locations: Aldo Leopold Foundation, Chief Wakąjaziga/Yellow Thunder Memorial

Time: 12 to 3 pm

Indigenous Peoples’ Day of Sauk County 2023 centers around honoring Wakąjaziga (Chief Yellow Thunder) and Haakejanįheįga (Always in the Back)and Indigenous connections to the land. 

September 14, 2023

Join us on Thursday, September 14th for a historic celebration. The evening will consist of a special presentation on the history of the clocktower by SCHS executive director Paul Wolter at the Al. Ringling Theatre followed by a ceremony on the courthouse lawn. At 8 pm, the bells will sound for the first time in many years and the clock faces will be lit with new LED lighting!

August 8 - 7 pm - Free Presentation

Tourism has been a part of the fabric of Sauk County almost since its inception. While geographical features formed the foundation for tourism in Sauk County, other factors added to its success. The advent of the automobile brought more tourists to the area and created different areas where tourism could flourish.

May - October - Sauk County Museum

The Persons of Interest exhibit highlights 26 people who once called Sauk County home and were ground breakers, influencers, or just plain interesting! People like Belle Case La Follette, who grew up in Baraboo and who some say was the "brains" behind fighting Bob La Follette or Josh Sanford who was an ace pilot with the Flying Tigers and survived being shot down or ditching his plane twelve times.

June 25

2 pm
Walnut Hill Cemetery, Baraboo - Admission required

June 14 - 6 pm

VFW Park, Prairie du Sac

Commemorate the epic voyage of Louis Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette and five other men that traversed the Fox, Wisconsin, Mississippi, and Illinois Rivers on their expedition to discover the Great River, the Mississippi, and prove that it flowed into the Gulf of Mexico.

May 25 - 7 pm

History Center

May 23 – Historic Homes of Sauk County

6 pm - Reedsburg Public Library

The Van Orden Mansion was filled with over 45 people to celebrate the life and work of Sauk County’s first historian, William H. Canfield.

Maps with details of the Sauk County area date all the way back to 1673 when Father Marquette and Louis Joliet were the first Europeans to explore the full extent of the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers and make their way down the Mississippi River. Over the next 170 years maps of the Sauk County area became increasingly more detailed as other explorers came through the area.

Christmas at the Mansion returns this year with three different options to experience all of the warmth, charm, and holiday cheer of Christmas at the Van Orden Mansion. Choose from December 9th, 10th, or 11th.

The splendor and nostalgia of the Christmas season is often best experienced in conjunction with historic architecture. Christmas cards, for example, often feature scenes of gorgeous period houses bedecked with garlands, wreaths, and trees. The Baraboo Holiday Tour of Homes will combine the grandeur of four historic homes with the decorations of the season to create a memorable holiday experience. The houses range in age from 1903 to 1940 and were designed in late Victorian, Craftsman, and Colonial Revival styles. Each will be decorated for the holidays and open for touring on Saturday, December 3 from 2 to 7 pm.

A French anthropologist once said, “Objects are what matter. Only they carry the evidence that throughout the centuries something really happened among human beings.”

Two Baraboo area collectors will present about the objects in their collections in a two-part series in October at the history center.

Citizens of Sauk County will gather to celebrate and honor Indigenous Peoples on Monday, October 10 in Sauk City at Meyer Oak Grove Park. Food, music, Native artisans, and historical displays will be part of this festive day!

Find out what Henry and Peter found in the backyard of a Baraboo home by coming to the 2022 SCHS Annual Meeting and Fall Banquet which will be held on Thursday, October 27 at 6 pm at the new Rock Springs Community Center located at 251 Railroad Street. A delicious meal prepared by Heavenly Smoked Roasters will be served followed by a short business meeting and the presentation