Mineral Point is a small, picturesque town located in rural Southwest Wisconsin, an area of farms, rolling hills and winding country roads.
In the early to mid-nineteenth century, lead miners who had immigrated to Southwestern Wisconsin from Cornwall in England began mining the area. Many-faceted craftsmen, they constructed deep shaft mines for the extraction of zinc and quarried the area’s abundant limestone to build their homes.
The homes were built in a ravine that became – and is known today – as “Shake-Rag-Under-The-Hill”. The name was derived from the custom of the miner’s wives summoning their husbands for meals by waving a cloth from their doorways.
Among several popular attractions for tourists and locals alike in Mineral Point is the Pendarvis State Historic Site. Pendarvis House is an original stone structure built by the Cornish miners between 1830 and 1848.
Restored nearly 100 years later by partners Robert Neal and Edgar Hellum and converted to the now-famous Pendarvis House Restaurant, the structure is open for touring led by guides costumed in the dress of that bygone period. The men took an interest in Mineral Point history and made an attempt to preserve some of the most tangible symbols such as the small stone cottages that the immigrants built.
Pendarvis House was established as a means to acquire money to support their continuing restoration work. The first food offered by the restaurant was “a simple tea service complemented by bread and butter, plum preserves and scalded cream, and saffron cake” – at a charge of fifty cents.
To the surprise of the owners, the restaurant became popular locally and was written up in a newspaper in Madison, bringing them to the attention of visitors from other states as well as other countries. The partners began increasing their menu offerings keeping it to simple but authentic Cornish food.
Duncan Hines mentioned the restaurant in his book “Adventures in Good Eating” and the “Saturday Evening Post” magazine named it “one of the seven best restaurants in the country”. The Pendarvis House Restaurant stayed in business until 1970 until Neal and Hellum finally retired.
In 1988, the Wisconsin Historic Society and the Wisconsin Conservation Corps began a joint project to restore the 43 acre prairie habitat overlooking the area to the way it looked as a frontier landscape to the first settlers in the area. They planted flowers, grass and trees native to the area and this lovely, natural spot is now the largest nature prairie in Southwest Wisconsin.
Pendarvis House Admission:
• Adults – $9.00
• Children 5 – 17 – $4.50
• Senior Citizens (65 and over) – $7.75
• Families (2 adults, 2 or more child dependents ages 5 – 17) – $24.00
Hours and Season Dates:
• Mid-May thru October 31 daily from 10 am to 5 pm. Last tour 4 pm.
Related posts: