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History

Kettle Moraine State Forest – Southern Unit

The southern unit of the Kettle Moraine State Forest has three restored log cabins and America's largest outdoor museum of rural life.

Old World Wisconsin [exit DNR], has many displays such as ethnic farmsteads that include furnished houses and rural outbuildings and crossroads villages with their traditional small-town institutions.

The three other log cabins stand in the original sites. Information about the family that lived there, their journey and the homestead can be found at each cabin. Check at the forest office for dates and times that cabins are open for guided tours.

  • Gotten cabin: Built by German immigrant Henry Gotten
    County Highway N, just north of State Highway 59
  • Emerson cabin: Built by Norwegian immigrant Barne Emerson
    Young Road, west of County Highway H
  • Oleson cabin: Built by Norwegian immigrant Ole Oleson
    Duffin Road, north of U.S. Highway 12