Pendarvis is a historic site located in Mineral Point,

Iowa County, Wisconsin Iowa County is a county (United States), county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 23,709. Its county seat and largest city is Dodgeville, Wisconsin, Dodgeville. When created, it ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The site, which is 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 v ...

, is made up of several 19th century cabins built by Cornish immigrants who came to Mineral Point to mine

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

. Today the site is owned by the

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 ...

and serves as a museum of Wisconsin's early lead mining history. Programs at the site also interpret the groundbreaking preservation work by Robert Neal and Edgar Hellum, begun during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

History

During the 1830s and 1840s, the area that today comprises southwest Wisconsin and northwest

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

was rapidly populated as miners came from across the

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

to work the region's abundant lead deposits. Several mining

boomtown A boomtown is a community that undergoes sudden and rapid population and economic growth, or that is started from scratch. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although ...

s sprang up in the region, including

Galena, Illinois Galena is the largest city in and the county seat of Jo Daviess County, Illinois, with a population of 3,308 at the 2020 census. A section of the city is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Galena Historic District. The ci ...

;

Platteville, Wisconsin Platteville is the largest city in Grant County in southwestern Wisconsin. The population was 11,836 at the 2020 census, up from 11,224 at the 2010 census. Much of this growth is likely due to the enrollment increase of the University of Wisc ...

; and Mineral Point, the location of Pendarvis. During the height of the mining era, the population of Mineral Point rose to over 4,000 as people migrated to the city to work in the lead mines. Many of the immigrants who came to Mineral Point were

tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal. Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...

miners from

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, at the southwestern tip of

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

. Many of the Cornish immigrants built simple houses in the town using wood or limestone taken from the local landscape. As time went on, however, the lead mines were exhausted and many of the miners moved on to other mining sites, especially

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

following the discovery of

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

Sutter's Mill Sutter's Mill was a water-powered sawmill on the bank of the South Fork American River in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in California. It was named after its owner John Sutter. A worker constructing the mill, James W. Marshall, found gold t ...

in 1848. Other miners stayed in the area to mine

zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

, which was also abundant, but by the early 20th century the zinc mines were also being abandoned.

Preservation

In the 1920s and 1930s, many of the old cabins built by the Cornish miners were being torn down. Seeing this, a local resident named Robert Neal, together with Edgar Hellum, began to acquire and restore several of the old Cornish buildings. Neal and Hellum also gave

Cornish-language Cornish (Standard Written Form: or ) , is a Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic language family. It is a revived language, having become extinct as a living community language in Cornwall at the end of the 18th century. However, k ...

names to each of the buildings they restored. They called their first project, a 1-story stone cabin, Pendarvis. In order to support the restoration of other buildings, Pendarvis House was turned into a restaurant serving authentic Cornish dishes such as

Cornish pasty A pasty () is a British baked pastry, a traditional variety of which is particularly associated with Cornwall, South West England, but has spread all over the British Isles. It is made by placing an uncooked filling, typically meat and vegetab ...

. The Pendarvis House Restaurant received wide acclaim, and helped finance Neal and Hellum's restoration of even more historic Cornish homes in Mineral Point. Pendarvis House 20100829

Following the restoration, the Pendarvis historic site included six cabins built by English and Cornish miners during the 1840s and 1850s. The Pendarvis house itself was built of locally quarried

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

and has walls that are 18 to 20 inches thick. Beside the Pendarvis house is the Trelawny, a 2-story cottage of similar construction. Nearby is Polperro, a -story house using stone for its first story and wood for its upper floors. Another Pendarvis building is the Rowhouse, which consists of three adjacent stone structures. The first house in the row was built as a free-standing building circa 1841. The second house was also built as a free-standing building circa 1844 or 1845. The final house, built between the other two houses and connecting to them, was built circa 1852.

Historic site

The collection of buildings restored by Neal and Hellum was transferred to the

in 1970. A year later, they were opened to the public as the Pendarvis Historic Site. In addition to the cottages, the Wisconsin Historical Society acquired several acres of land on nearby Merry Christmas Mine Hill, the site of a historic zinc mine. Remnants of the mining activity are still visible, but much of the hill has been restored to natural

prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

. Visitors to the site can explore the hill on a number of foot trails. The historic buildings are shown to the visiting public seasonally as a museum preserving the history of the region's mining industry and the lives of the miners who first developed the site. Many artifacts are on display in the buildings, including authentic mining tools and household items. Cornish cabins

References

External links

* {{Protected Areas of Wisconsin Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin Museums in Iowa County, Wisconsin Wisconsin Historical Society Open-air museums in Wisconsin Mining museums in Wisconsin Industry museums in Wisconsin Ethnic museums in Wisconsin Ghost towns in Wisconsin Cornish-American culture in Wisconsin Populated places established in 1835 Houses in Iowa County, Wisconsin National Register of Historic Places in Iowa County, Wisconsin Populated places on the National Register of Historic Places