House on the Rock
One of the first attractions we saw was the House on the Rocks. The House on the Rock itself is a 14 room house built into the rock formations atop the Wyoming Valley near Spring Valley, Wisconsin. It has now grown into a 16+ building complex full of objects of all kinds. The complex is surrounded by beautiful gardens and sits high up in the valley. Have your walking shoes ready as it's over 2 miles to go through everything! It is a beautiful area.
The House on the Rocks is kind of a museum, in that many of the pieces have historical value, but for the most part it is an enormous collection of artifacts of all kinds. We spent 4-5 hours going through all of the buildings and sites and was exhausted by the time we were done. |
 |
The house was originally a weekend getaway place for Alex Jordan. He built the main house himself into the rock. It is a very interesting piece of architecture to say the least. Local interest became so great in the house, that Jordan started charging a 50 cents admission fee to see it, because so many people would stop and ask to see the house. He was also a big fan of music he loved to collect things. Both are vary obvious when you tour the house and accompanying buildings. There are tons (literally) of machine-driven music machines throughout all of the buildings.
 |
Our advise is to take time to enjoy the house itself. Jordan actually lived there for a time. It is very interestingly laid out. One breath-taking room, called the Infinity Room is a room of glass that extends over 200 feet out from the house. You can look down and see the valley floor over 100 feet below. The lamp at left is from the house. |
By the time you get to the end of all of the attractions, you will probably be pretty tired and pretty soon everything starts to look the same. In some of the buildings, you just kind of shake your head and go "why". After going through the main house, the best advise is to stop and pay attention only to those things that really catch your fancy.
There are a lot of really cool things, but you can burn out after awhile. The world's largest carousel is located there. There is also a large collection of dolls, music machines of all kinds, and items you probably never imagined. The grounds are surrounded by beautiful gardens also. Be sure to spend some time outside to enjoy them as well. They constantly add new stuff, so it's a place you can go back to year after year and see new stuff. Everyone should see this at least once. This picture is from one of the many music machines. |
 |
For more information, visit their web site at: www.thehouseontherock.com