The Buildings

                  Brewery Creek

                                        

This is what brought us to Mineral Point because we were looking around to do something "completely different." 

There was no heating, no plumbing, no wiring, no interior walls or stairways, no doors or windows and a dirt floor.  This is what we saw, but when George Cobb built his warehouse in 1854 it was an object of civic pride.  Described as “…the most prominent building in the Village” it was emblematic of the boom days of early Statehood.  Later it had other uses, including a cold storage facility, an insulation factory and for many years Doc Shimming’s veterinary stable.

The lead mines came and went, as did the railroad and the massive zinc works.  By the 1970’s this “most prominent building” was a ruin.  The roof and third floor timbers rotted away, the massive beams collapsed and the north wall began to give way.  Several different owners over the years worked bit by bit to piece the building’s framework back together. 

Construction began on Brewery Creek in July of 1997 and we opened for business in June of 1998.

Springside Cottage

 

We bought this cottage on Shake Rag Street in 2002.  It started life 159 years earlier in 1843.  Back then when the Cornish were immigrating to Mineral Point a common practice was to build a house to live in.  After awhile as they prospered they would build a second house and rent or sell the first house to new immigrants.

This Shake Rag neighborhood became filled with little "rock" cottages like this.  By the 1930's many of them were in disrepair and falling down or being mined for stones to build WPA projects.  Enter Bob Neal and Edgar Hallum.  They were crazy enough to love the old buildings, to save a few, and create Pendarvis, which they eventually donated to the State of Wisconsin.  It is now a State Historic site. 

At some point, Bob acquired this building.  He and Edgar set about renovating it and made it their guest house.   This piece of Mineral Point history is now under our care.  There is no other way to describe the feeling this house creates except "magic".  If you stay there, maybe you'll feel the same way.

The historic Federal Springs surfaces in Shake Rag Alley and makes its way under Shake Rag Street flowing beside the cottage as it makes it way toward Brewery Creek..   So the spring is beside the cottage....Springside Cottage.

After we purchased the building on Commerce Street we found out that the name of the creek behind was Brewery Creek.  We don't know who named it or when, but we do know that the first brewery in the State of Wisconsin, built in 1835, was next to it.  We also know that the second brewery in Mineral Point, built around 1850, was also next to it, as was the third built around 1852.  During the hay day of Zinc processing the locals called it "Red Creek" because it was so polluted the waters ran red.

The Miners' Cottage, Shakerag Street

 

This was donated to the State Historical Society about 1972.  Various people have rented it since then, Brewery Creek being the latest.  Now you too can stay in this bit of history.  Above you can see two views of the Cottage.  The first is modern, the second was taken some time in the 1920's.  People have been living here since 1836 when miners fresh from Cornwall arrived in Mineral Point in pursuit of happiness.  Just for reference that year:  Former President James Madison died; "Mr. $20 Bill", Andrew Jackson was our President; Texas declaired independance; Spain recognized the independance of Mexico.