Summer on the Veranda

Select Friday evenings, May - August, starting May 2

5:00 - 7:00 pm

Relax in Victorian splendor as you stroll the veranda at Hearthstone with a cool drink in hand (parasol is totally optional!) while listening to performances on our 1875 square grand piano. This open-house event is about slowing down the pace of life and being immersed in the lavish surroundings of the wonderfully restored 1882 Queen Anne Style home.

Ladies are encouraged to wear their best Victorian hats. Beautiful hats were de rigueur for Victorian and Edwardian ladies. Gents can sport their own straw boater or a bowler. But if anyone does not have a hat, we would be glad to lend you one of our recreations from our collection.

Our docents will be dressed up as well playing the roles of hostesses or the Rogers’ servants as they welcome you into the home while serving complementary beverages.

Don’t feel like you need to dress up… but it does add to the fun.

Tickets include your choice (and refills) of lemonade, iced tea, white wine, or classic mint juleps.

Mother’s Day at Hearthstone

May 11

Doesn’t Mom deserve a little special treatment? Of course, she does! On Mother’s Day, all moms receive free admission to Hearthstone with a paid admission at the door (because of course you want to go with her). What better way to celebrate Mom’s special day than in the special surroundings of Hearthstone! Plus, our docents will be sharing stories of Hearthstone’s first women - Cremora Rogers, Florence Rogers, and Mary Deimer.

Doors open at 1:00 pm. Tours begin at 1:30 pm and 3:00 pm.

It’s a Mother’s Day celebration of historic proportions!

“Cream Aura” Old Fashion Ice Cream Social

Sunday, July 20, 2025, 4:00 PM 6:00 PM

The simple joy of sitting on the back porch, enjoying locally made ice cream, on a beautiful summer’s afternoon… What can top that? Um, a little chocolate sauce maybe?

In honor of Hearthstone’s First Lady, Cremora Rogers, Hearthstone will be serving up scoops of delicious, locally made, ice cream (we have found it to be our duty to try local products, sometimes three or four times… just to make sure) at something we call our “Cream Aura” Old Fashion Ice Cream Social. (Get it? After “Cremora” Rogers… ok keep reading.)

It will all be very informal. We will be sitting at tables and chairs in the backyard of the museum - and on the veranda steps too of course - under the shade of the trees that line the riverbank. The ice cream will be available by the scoop in bowls. (The ice cream cone wasn’t invented until 1904! We are stickers that way.) The event is free but we will be charging a modest amount for the ice cream as a fundraiser. (But not the chocolate sauce, that’s on us - Hershey’s Cocoa is very Victorian, first being served in 1896.)

Pull over, pedal over, or just wander over and join us for a Victorian ice cream social.

PLEASE NOTE: ICE CREAM QUANTITIES ARE LIMITED. PLEASE ARRIVE EARLY. RAIN DATE IS JULY 27. (The ice cream won’t keep forever.)

Don’t Worry Your Pretty Little Head: Patriarchy, Paternalism, and Women’s Rights in Victorian America

August 14 (rescheduled from March)

Considering that Wisconsin’s current law banning abortion in most cases dates from 1849, a time when women were seldom free to exercise independent thought, let alone their individual rights, this topic has profound relevance today.

Join Hearthstone’s Executive Director and attorney George Schroeder as he leads an hour long presentation on the transformation of women’s rights in 19th century America. The presentation will overview the changes in martial and property rights, reproduction rights, and voting rights. It will feature illustrations in each area from the lives of Hearthstone’s Cremora and Florence Rogers.

This free event was originally scheduled for Women’s History Month.