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Northeast Wisconsin's Bayfield Peninsula and Lake Superior
Ashland
Ashland's Victorian-style brownstone buildings recall the days when this bustling, small city beside Chequamegon Bay was a busy shipping and lumber center.
During the late 1800s, Ashland's Hotel Chequamegon ruled the lakefront social scene with chamber concerts, polite lawn croquet games and distinguished guests such as Mark Twain. Twice rising from the ashes, the white-frame hotel was completely rebuilt in 1986 in the style of grand 19th-century Great Lakes hotels. Rooms are standard motel-style, but Victorian-style antiques fill the lobby and attentive service is the sort for which another former guest, John D. Rockefeller, would have tipped generously.
Beaches and parks line the neighboring shore. Pleasure crafts bob in waters offshore. Prentice Park on Ashland's west edge is a 100-acre migrating stop and nesting grounds for waterfowl.
Tour the Southshore Brewery, housed in L.C. Wilmarth's Deepwater Grille Restaurant. Then, stop by the chamber of commerce for a map of area waterfalls. Just west of town, hands-on exhibits at the Northern Great Lakes Visitors Center chronicle area history and geology.
Drive 20 miles west on US-2.
