Take a Cruise to the Victorian Summer Retreat of a Chicago Beer Baron
Black Point Estate was built for Chicago Beer Baron, Conrad Seipp, in 1888 as a retreat, and in that spirit the home remains a place to relax, refresh, and explore. Just like the Victorian VIPs who established the estate, you’ll arrive in style and enjoy stunning Geneva Lake views on your cruise to this magnificent summer home, considered one of the finest examples of period architecture and furniture in the Midwest, and one of the oldest homes in Lake Geneva.
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Black Point Estate and Gardens
Step into Gilded Age elegance at the 1888 Summer home of Chicago beer baron, Conrad Seipp. Guests enjoy a narrated boat ride to the property via the Lake Geneva Cruise Line, a guided tour of the mansion, & time to relax and sip Seipp beer on the veranda.
2026 is the 250th anniversary of the United States of America. Over the next 250 days we will be highlighting historic people, places or things from around Walworth County.
Up next is the Lake Geneva Country Club.
The Lake Geneva Country Club is believed to be the oldest golf club in the Midwest still on its founding site. The original course was designed by Robert Foulis who emigrated from St. Andrews, Scotland in 1896.
Robert was viewed as one of the country’s foremost authorities on green construction and different types of turf grass.
After enjoying a 5-hole course on the N.K. Fairbank estate, eleven Chicago summer residents gathered in the winter of 1895 to plan an 18-hole private course on the south shore of the lake. The original clubhouse was destroyed by fire and rebuilt in 1915.
Tournaments included the local Annual Invitational and the Women's Western Junior won by Nancy Lopez.
In addition to golf, today’s members enjoy tennis, swimming, fine dining, and, in the winter, paddle tennis, and iceboating.
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Chicago Golf Club was the first 18 hole course in the US. Built in 1892 in Belmont IL (now Downers Grove) and then moved in 1894 to Wheaton. I live about a mile from the course. 9 holes of the original course still remains and DG Park district runs it.
One of ... if not the oldest ... country club in the USA.
www.chicagogolfclubfdn.org/history.html#:~:text=Founding%3A%201892%20%E2%80%93%20Chicago%20Golf,o....
2026 is the 250th anniversary of the United States of America. Over the next 250 days we will be highlighting historic people, places or things from around Walworth County.
Up next is John & Juliette Kinzie.
You may not recognize the names John Harris Kinzie and Juliette Augusta Magill Kinzie but they were an incredibly influential couple. They met in 1827 and married the same year. They started their new life together in Chicago but by 1830 they moved to Fort Winnebago and lived near today’s Portage, Wisconsin.
John held many jobs including fur trader, secretary to the Governor of Michigan Territories, "Indian" agent and army paymaster during the Civil War.
Juliette was a historian and author, her most notable work is Wau-Bun, The Early Day in The North West—primarily a description of her experiences as the wife of a Ho-Chunk Indian agent.
In her books she helps document the everyday goings on of new settlers that are often overlooked in history books. Wau-Bun offers the first written description of Chief Big Foot and the Geneva Lake area.
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I believe their traveling party are considered the 1st white people to ever see Geneva Lake, as they descended from the now Country Club Estates hills to what is now Glenwood Springs, in Fontana. Where the Fontana lakefront is now was mostly marsh, with one of Big Foot's villages on the Buena Vista end, where the terrain rises from the lakefront.
2026 is the 250th anniversary of the United States of America. Over the next 250 days we will be highlighting historic people, places or things from around Walworth County.
Up next is Horticultural Hall.
In 1911, the Fresh Air Society and the Gardener’s and Foreman’s Association worked together to form the Lake Geneva Horticultural Society.
A Craftsman style building, designed by Spencer & Powers and built by Robert Malsch & Sons, was erected on land donated by Simeon B. Chapin.
The Hall served as a location for the professional gardeners working on nearby estates to meet and discuss their work.
The place was used for indoor flower and vegetable shows, educational projects, and fund-raising benefits.
Today, the Hall offers a wide variety of services and events, such weddings, reunions, parties, showers, and farmer's markets in the historic great hall and lovely courtyard summer garden.
Horticultural Hall received special recognition in 1999 when the United States Department of the Interior placed it on the National Register of Historic Places.
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Beautiful place, so wonderful that it has been preserved and restored
Have always wanted to see the interior….wonderful that it is on the National Register of Historic Places!!!!