The Camp Five Museum is a

living history Living history is an activity that incorporates historical tools, activities and dress into an interactive presentation that seeks to give observers and participants a sense of stepping back in time. Although it does not necessarily seek to ree ...

museum located in

Laona, Wisconsin Laona is a town in Forest County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,212 at the 2010 census. The census-designated place of Laona is located in the town. The unincorporated community of Blackwell Junction is also located partially ...

that interprets the

forest industry The wood industry or timber industry (sometimes lumber industry -- when referring mainly to sawed boards) is the industry concerned with forestry, logging, timber trade, and the production of primary forest products and wood products (e.g. furn ...

and transportation history of

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. It includes part or all of the Camp Five Farmstead, also known as Camp Five Logging Camp, which was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1996. The museum was established in 1969.

History

The R Connor Company established a logging camp at this site in the late 1890s, their fifth camp near Laona. By 1914, the timber within reach of the camp was exhausted, so it was converted into a company farm, to supply meat, vegetables, and work horses to Connor's other camps in the area. The site worked well because it was near town, the land in the immediate vicinity was good for farming, and it lay on a rail line. The farm continued to supply Connor's logging camps for decades. In 1969, the farm opened to the public as a history museum.

Museum

The museum site encompasses and includes a logging and forestry museum, static displays of historic logging equipment and

bateau A bateau or batteau is a shallow- draft, flat-bottomed boat which was used extensively across North America, especially in the colonial period and in the fur trade. It was traditionally pointed at both ends but came in a wide variety of sizes. T ...

x used in log drives, a slaughterhouse, a petting zoo, a nature center, a small cafeteria, and a museum shop. Two tours run from the site into the surrounding countryside: a forestry tour and a riverboat tour. Each tour takes about twenty minutes. Visitors reach the museum by taking the

Lumberjack Steam Train The Lumberjack Steam Train is a passenger excursion train operated on the Laona and Northern Railway, a heritage railroad located in Laona, Wisconsin and part of the Camp 5 Museum. It is operated by the non-profit Camp 5 Museum Foundation, Inc. ...

, which runs on the

Laona and Northern Railway The Laona and Northern Railway (reporting marks LNO) is a heritage railroad in Laona, Wisconsin. History A former freight railroad, it was incorporated in 1902 for the R. Connor Company of Marshfield, Wisconsin, to haul lumber to its mill in L ...

. The museum's steam train and

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, gr ...

y are part of its daily living history displays. In addition the museum periodically hosts re-enactors of the fur-trade era, cowboys, the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, and

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Awards: * 1996 - Camp Five was added to the

by the

US Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the mana ...

* 1987 - Presidential Environmental Youth Award, from the

United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it ...

for its education and ecology program for Boy Scouts * 1978 - Forest History Association of Wisconsin award * 1975 -

Arbor Day Foundation The Arbor Day Foundation is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit membership organization dedicated to planting trees. The Arbor Day Foundation has more than one million members and has planted more than 350 million trees in neighborhoods, communities ...

National Award in Education for the Green Treasure Forest Tour * 1970 -

Wisconsin Historical Society The Wisconsin Historical Society (officially the State Historical Society of Wisconsin) is simultaneously a state agency and a private membership organization whose purpose is to maintain, promote and spread knowledge relating to the history of N ...

Award of Merit

References

External links

* {{authority control Railroad museums in Wisconsin Forestry museums in the United States Nature centers in Wisconsin Farms on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin Museums in Forest County, Wisconsin Natural history museums in Wisconsin Industry museums in Wisconsin National Register of Historic Places in Forest County, Wisconsin