EVENT CALENDAR
100 South 2nd Street, Mount Horeb, Wisconsin . FIND US ON FACEBOOK!
2024
Sunday, September 15 (10:00-11:30am): 2024 Trollway Walking Tours, Small Town Stories, $5 per person/Members FREE; 15 person max. NOTE: this is 1 0f 3 repeat 2024 walking tour events. Scroll down for more info, including how to register.
Sunday, September 15 (2:00pm @ Driftless Historium): Part 2 of 3, "Black Hawk War, Its Aftermath and Legacy" Sunday Speaker Series, featuring Bradley University's Dr. Libby Tronnes with "A New History of the Black Hawk War: Ho-Chunk Peacekeeping in 1832." An MHAHS & Cave of the Mounds partner series. Scroll down for more info.
Saturday, September 21 (10:00-11:30am): 2024 Trollway Walking Tours, Small Town Stories, $5 per person/Members FREE; 15 person max. NOTE: this is 1 0f 3 repeat 2024 walking tour events. Scroll down for more info, including how to register.
Saturday, September 28 & Sunday, September 29: TROLL UNIVERSITY. One weekend, a millennia of troll history and folklore; an inspirational and edifying journey led by Troll Expert Britte Rasmussen Marsh. Limited seating available. Just $95 per person/$75 MHAHS Members, includes two meals. Scroll down for more info, including how to register.
Sunday, October 20 (2:00pm @ Cave of the Mounds): Part 3 of 3, "Black Hawk War, Its Aftermath and Legacy" Sunday Speaker Series, featuring Author Ben Strand and Special Guest Juaquin Hamilton, Sac and Fox Nation Cultural Ambassador, with "Black Hawk and the Sac and Fox Nation Legacy." An MHAHS & Cave of the Mounds partner series. More info coming soon!
Sunday, October 20 (4:00-5:30pm): 2024 Trollway Walking Tours, Small Town Stories, $5 per person/Members FREE; 15 person max. NOTE: this is 1 0f 3 repeat 2024 walking tour events. Scroll down for more info, including how to register.
Sunday, September 15 (2:00pm @ Driftless Historium): Part 2 of 3, "Black Hawk War, Its Aftermath and Legacy" Sunday Speaker Series, featuring Bradley University's Dr. Libby Tronnes with "A New History of the Black Hawk War: Ho-Chunk Peacekeeping in 1832." An MHAHS & Cave of the Mounds partner series. Scroll down for more info.
Saturday, September 21 (10:00-11:30am): 2024 Trollway Walking Tours, Small Town Stories, $5 per person/Members FREE; 15 person max. NOTE: this is 1 0f 3 repeat 2024 walking tour events. Scroll down for more info, including how to register.
Saturday, September 28 & Sunday, September 29: TROLL UNIVERSITY. One weekend, a millennia of troll history and folklore; an inspirational and edifying journey led by Troll Expert Britte Rasmussen Marsh. Limited seating available. Just $95 per person/$75 MHAHS Members, includes two meals. Scroll down for more info, including how to register.
Sunday, October 20 (2:00pm @ Cave of the Mounds): Part 3 of 3, "Black Hawk War, Its Aftermath and Legacy" Sunday Speaker Series, featuring Author Ben Strand and Special Guest Juaquin Hamilton, Sac and Fox Nation Cultural Ambassador, with "Black Hawk and the Sac and Fox Nation Legacy." An MHAHS & Cave of the Mounds partner series. More info coming soon!
Sunday, October 20 (4:00-5:30pm): 2024 Trollway Walking Tours, Small Town Stories, $5 per person/Members FREE; 15 person max. NOTE: this is 1 0f 3 repeat 2024 walking tour events. Scroll down for more info, including how to register.
Black Hawk War, Its Aftermath & Legacy
SUNDAY SPEAKER SERIES, Part 2 of 3
"A New History of the Black Hawk War: Ho-Chunk Peacekeeping in 1832"
Presented by Dr. Libby Tronnes
Sunday, Sept 15, 2:00p.m.
On Sunday, September 15 at 2:00 p.m., the Driftless Historium (100 S 2nd St, downtown Mount Horeb) will host “A New History of the Black Hawk War: Ho-Chunk Peacekeeping in 1832,” presented by Dr. Libby Tronnes.
In Spring 1832, a Ho-Chunk delegation attempted to resolve a refugee crisis that threatened to bring war with the Americans into their lands. The return migration into Northern Illinois of a removed multiethnic band made up primarily of Sauk, Mesquakie, and Kickapoo families precipitated the conflict known as the Black Hawk War. When direct diplomacy failed, Rock River Ho-Chunks attempted to spare the lives of their refugee kin while also protecting their cornfields from American invaders. The federal government used the crisis to force a land cession and removal treaty.
Nineteenth-century American observers and historians ever since have generally overlooked the imaginative peacekeeping strategies deployed by the Ho-Chunk people. These intercessions were dually designed to prevent troops from finding the refugees and from destroying the raised field agriculture that sustained their communities. The Ho-Chunk almost succeeded.
Dr. Tronnes will illustrate how (1) prioritizing and emphasizing Native voices and actions in the historical record and (2) questioning accounts published by the White conflict veterans on which historians traditionally rely brings forward a new history of this tragic crisis—one that privileges Indigenous autonomy, ingenuity, and survivance.
Libby is a historian, assistant professor, and Director of the Virginius H. Chase Special Collections Center and University Archive at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. She earned her history Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2017. Her dissertation is an expansion of this presentation: “Corn Moon Migrations: Ho-Chunk Belonging, Removal, and Return in the Early Nineteenth-Century Western Great Lakes.” Dr. Tronnes grew up in Edgerton, Wisconsin, on ancestral homelands of the Ho-Chunk Nation.
*****The Black Hawk War, Its Aftermath and Legacy, 2024 SUNDAY SPEAKER SERIES*****
The 1832 Black Hawk War, that crisscrossed Wisconsin and Illinois, illustrates both the desperate courage of indigenous communities protecting their way of life and the ruthless aggression of Americans who considered their invasion of the West righteous and justified.
Cave of the Mounds and the Mount Horeb Area Historical Society are partnering on a 3-part Sunday Speaker Series that invites tribal and academic experts to explore the implications and impact of this horrifically violent and profoundly tragic four-month conflict. “The Black Hawk War, Its Aftermath and Legacy” includes a once-monthly presentation, August through October. All installments of this Sunday Speaker Series are free and family-friendly. Reservations are not required. For more information, call 608-437-6486 or email [email protected].
SUNDAY SPEAKER SERIES, Part 2 of 3
"A New History of the Black Hawk War: Ho-Chunk Peacekeeping in 1832"
Presented by Dr. Libby Tronnes
Sunday, Sept 15, 2:00p.m.
On Sunday, September 15 at 2:00 p.m., the Driftless Historium (100 S 2nd St, downtown Mount Horeb) will host “A New History of the Black Hawk War: Ho-Chunk Peacekeeping in 1832,” presented by Dr. Libby Tronnes.
In Spring 1832, a Ho-Chunk delegation attempted to resolve a refugee crisis that threatened to bring war with the Americans into their lands. The return migration into Northern Illinois of a removed multiethnic band made up primarily of Sauk, Mesquakie, and Kickapoo families precipitated the conflict known as the Black Hawk War. When direct diplomacy failed, Rock River Ho-Chunks attempted to spare the lives of their refugee kin while also protecting their cornfields from American invaders. The federal government used the crisis to force a land cession and removal treaty.
Nineteenth-century American observers and historians ever since have generally overlooked the imaginative peacekeeping strategies deployed by the Ho-Chunk people. These intercessions were dually designed to prevent troops from finding the refugees and from destroying the raised field agriculture that sustained their communities. The Ho-Chunk almost succeeded.
Dr. Tronnes will illustrate how (1) prioritizing and emphasizing Native voices and actions in the historical record and (2) questioning accounts published by the White conflict veterans on which historians traditionally rely brings forward a new history of this tragic crisis—one that privileges Indigenous autonomy, ingenuity, and survivance.
Libby is a historian, assistant professor, and Director of the Virginius H. Chase Special Collections Center and University Archive at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. She earned her history Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2017. Her dissertation is an expansion of this presentation: “Corn Moon Migrations: Ho-Chunk Belonging, Removal, and Return in the Early Nineteenth-Century Western Great Lakes.” Dr. Tronnes grew up in Edgerton, Wisconsin, on ancestral homelands of the Ho-Chunk Nation.
*****The Black Hawk War, Its Aftermath and Legacy, 2024 SUNDAY SPEAKER SERIES*****
The 1832 Black Hawk War, that crisscrossed Wisconsin and Illinois, illustrates both the desperate courage of indigenous communities protecting their way of life and the ruthless aggression of Americans who considered their invasion of the West righteous and justified.
Cave of the Mounds and the Mount Horeb Area Historical Society are partnering on a 3-part Sunday Speaker Series that invites tribal and academic experts to explore the implications and impact of this horrifically violent and profoundly tragic four-month conflict. “The Black Hawk War, Its Aftermath and Legacy” includes a once-monthly presentation, August through October. All installments of this Sunday Speaker Series are free and family-friendly. Reservations are not required. For more information, call 608-437-6486 or email [email protected].
2024 Trollway Walking Tours:
Small Town Stories!
Sunday, Sept 15 @ 10am
Sat, Sept 21 @ 10am
Sun, Oct 20 @ 4pm
“Small Town Stories” Trollway Walking Tour explores the lively characters, charming buildings, and weird-but-true tales that populate the colorful history of Mount Horeb. From suspected murders, ghostly encounters and philandering spouses—our Village’s stories will be brought to vivid and engrossing life on a narrated stroll along the famous Trollway (also known as Main Street).
This narrated walking tour begins and ends at the Driftless Historium main entrance (100 S 2nd St). It is roughly a 1.5 hour experience along a one mile loop on sidewalks and across Village streets. We suggest wearing closed-toed, comfortable shoes and a sun hat/ball cap; and bring your water bottle!
Your tour guide is Mount Horeb’s own Kristin Davis. Kristin is thrilled to host these upcoming walking tours! She is a 25+ year resident of Mount Horeb and a former history teacher—and this isn’t her first rodeo! Kristin has led groups through Forest Hill Cemetery in Madison, during the Wisconsin Veterans Museum's popular "Talking Spirits Cemetery Tours.”
Three 2024 tour dates are now open for registration:
MHAHS Members and U.S. Military/Veterans participate for free. NOTE: Extreme temps or precipitation may necessitate a short-notice cancellation. We will notify all registrants as soon as possible if this occurs, via phone and/or email.
Make your reservation here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090C4BA5A82CA7F58-trollway OR call 608-437-6486.
Small Town Stories!
Sunday, Sept 15 @ 10am
Sat, Sept 21 @ 10am
Sun, Oct 20 @ 4pm
“Small Town Stories” Trollway Walking Tour explores the lively characters, charming buildings, and weird-but-true tales that populate the colorful history of Mount Horeb. From suspected murders, ghostly encounters and philandering spouses—our Village’s stories will be brought to vivid and engrossing life on a narrated stroll along the famous Trollway (also known as Main Street).
This narrated walking tour begins and ends at the Driftless Historium main entrance (100 S 2nd St). It is roughly a 1.5 hour experience along a one mile loop on sidewalks and across Village streets. We suggest wearing closed-toed, comfortable shoes and a sun hat/ball cap; and bring your water bottle!
Your tour guide is Mount Horeb’s own Kristin Davis. Kristin is thrilled to host these upcoming walking tours! She is a 25+ year resident of Mount Horeb and a former history teacher—and this isn’t her first rodeo! Kristin has led groups through Forest Hill Cemetery in Madison, during the Wisconsin Veterans Museum's popular "Talking Spirits Cemetery Tours.”
Three 2024 tour dates are now open for registration:
- Sunday, September 15 @ 10am
- Saturday, September 21@ 10am
- Sunday, October 20 @ 4pm
MHAHS Members and U.S. Military/Veterans participate for free. NOTE: Extreme temps or precipitation may necessitate a short-notice cancellation. We will notify all registrants as soon as possible if this occurs, via phone and/or email.
Make your reservation here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090C4BA5A82CA7F58-trollway OR call 608-437-6486.
TROLL UNIVERSITY
Now Enrolling Students!!
Sat, Sept 28 & Sun, Sept 29, 2024
10am - 3pm each day
As part of 2024’s ongoing celebration of Mount Horeb’s most mysterious and infamous residents—including the recent debut of the all-new, always free Troll Museum, the Driftless Historium is excited to host the first-ever* Troll University on Saturday, September 28 and Sunday, September 29.
Mount Horeb’s quirky and playful moniker “Troll Capital of the World” is a distillation of our community’s deep cultural heritage and immigrant legacy. This two-day workshop delves into this rich expanse of Norse folklore via four sessions covering a millennia of troll history**, led by special guest presenter Britte Rasmussen Marsh. Participants will also hear from the Society’s curatorial staff, who will share select, one-of-a-kind Norwegian artifacts and their local stories.
Marsh is a writer, educator and Scandinavian studies scholar based in Portland, Oregon. She returns as a MHAHS program partner after a well-received 2020 virtual series, “Trolls: A Retrospective,” that helped shape 2024’s Troll University. Britte is currently coalescing her research into a non-fiction book entitled “WeTroll” that explores the “troll diaspora” from the Nordic region to North America.
Now Enrolling Students!!
Sat, Sept 28 & Sun, Sept 29, 2024
10am - 3pm each day
As part of 2024’s ongoing celebration of Mount Horeb’s most mysterious and infamous residents—including the recent debut of the all-new, always free Troll Museum, the Driftless Historium is excited to host the first-ever* Troll University on Saturday, September 28 and Sunday, September 29.
Mount Horeb’s quirky and playful moniker “Troll Capital of the World” is a distillation of our community’s deep cultural heritage and immigrant legacy. This two-day workshop delves into this rich expanse of Norse folklore via four sessions covering a millennia of troll history**, led by special guest presenter Britte Rasmussen Marsh. Participants will also hear from the Society’s curatorial staff, who will share select, one-of-a-kind Norwegian artifacts and their local stories.
Marsh is a writer, educator and Scandinavian studies scholar based in Portland, Oregon. She returns as a MHAHS program partner after a well-received 2020 virtual series, “Trolls: A Retrospective,” that helped shape 2024’s Troll University. Britte is currently coalescing her research into a non-fiction book entitled “WeTroll” that explores the “troll diaspora” from the Nordic region to North America.
Troll University reservations are required, with only twenty students accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis. Tuition is $95 per person, with current Mount Horeb Area Historical Society (MHAHS) Members eligible for a $75 discounted rate. This fee includes a box lunch each day catered by local eateries, two optional field trips and, of course, a Troll University diploma and t-shirt.
To register, visit https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090C4BA5A82CA7F58-50421713-troll
or call 608-437-6486. Payment in full is required to confirm registration.
NOTE: This is a lecture-based workshop for adults. Students must be 18 years of age or older.
To register, visit https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090C4BA5A82CA7F58-50421713-troll
or call 608-437-6486. Payment in full is required to confirm registration.
NOTE: This is a lecture-based workshop for adults. Students must be 18 years of age or older.
MHAHS operates the Driftless Historium. The Society was founded in 1975 to collect, preserve and share the history and heritage of Southwestern Dane County. Troll University’s low tuition fees—and all our community programs and exhibits—are offset by the generosity of the Society’s Members and donors. For more information, call 608-437-6486 or email [email protected].
*as far as we know!
**Visit here for content overviews of the four sessions, and a printable flyer: https://www.mthorebhistory.org/trolluniversity2024.html
*as far as we know!
**Visit here for content overviews of the four sessions, and a printable flyer: https://www.mthorebhistory.org/trolluniversity2024.html
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Past News and Events
Past News and Events