Art, Nature and Nudes: Welcome to the 'Iron Horse' of Wisconsin

It's a step back in time when walking through downtown's Brodhead Street — with its brick and stone storefronts, pillars and railings still intact from the mid-1800s.

**RESENT AS BIGGER FILE** A downtown view of Mazomanie, Wis. is shown on Sept. 6, 2008. The September issue of Budget Travel named Mazomanie one of the "10 Coolest Small Towns."

(Carrie Antlfinger/AP Photo)
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Nearby are the railroad tracks that spurred the founding of this village in 1855, and the flour mill and railroad depot built two years later.

But inside many doors of the two-block strip are attractions that make Mazomanie a happening place for the 21st century: art galleries, the Wall Street Gallery & Bistro, a bike shop and a resale shop. The mill is now a restaurant and the depot a library, although freight trains still pass through.

The village — with 33 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places and a population of just 1,500 — has been rejuvenated after decades of empty and deteriorating storefronts. Tourists are starting to notice, and so is the travel industry. The September issue of Budget Travel named Mazomanie one of the "10 Coolest Small Towns," noting that the village is saturated with artists.

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Mazomanie's comeback is partly due to historical society members who saw the potential of their hamlet nestled amid rolling hills, the Wisconsin River, Black Earth Creek (a Class A trout stream) and farm fields.

Its location is a tourism promoter's dream: on the road between the popular Taliesin — the home of Frank Lloyd Wright — and the state capital of Madison. It's also within an hour's drive of waterpark-filled Wisconsin Dells.

"It's really been an awakening in the last year or so," said David Friske. He and his wife Karisa own the Walking Iron Bed and Breakfast, a brick Victorian Italianate house built in 1865 just outside of downtown.

The area is also known for its one-time controversial nude beach on the Wisconsin River in the nearby Town of Mazomanie. It attracts naturists from other states and is the only public nude beach in Wisconsin, though not officially designated as such.

Business booms at the B&B from May through October with visitors from Chicago, Milwaukee and Madison, Friske said. That can be attributed partly to Bob Brumley, a sculptor and Chamber of Commerce president who started Iron Horse Gallery Cooperative in July 2006. The original group of five artists has grown to 17, creating paintings, fused glasswork, photographs, jewelry and scarves, among other things.