Wade House to Host Taproom Talks Speaker Series
Greenbush, Wis. – In 2024, Wade House’s Taproom Talks Speaker Series will bring celebrated authors and historians to Wade House for lively discussions of their thought-provoking work. Each Taproom Talk includes a special presentation, a live Q&A and on many occasions the opportunity to purchase a book signed by the author. Prepare to be captivated by the stories and insights of the three exceptional speakers presenting in our 2024 season: Anna Lardinois, author of Shipwrecks of the Great Lakes: Tragedies & Legacies from the Inland Seas; Mary Elise Antoine, author of Enslaved, Indentured, Free, 1800 to 1850; and Susan Apps-Bodilly, co-author of Old Farm Country Cookbook.
Anna Lardinois
Saturday, February 24, 2024 | 1 – 2 p.m.
Shipwrecks of the Great Lakes: Tragedies & Legacies from the Inland Seas
It is estimated that there have been at least 6,000 shipwrecks on the Great Lakes. Over 30,000 lives have been lost in those wrecks. Each of the losses is a story waiting to be told.
Join us to listen to harrowing tales featuring some of the worst maritime disasters to ever occur on the Great Lakes. From the heartbreak of the Lady Elgin tragedy to the legendary sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, and many others, you’ll hear tales of tragedy and mystery during this storytelling event.
Presenter Anna Lardinois is an award-winning tour guide and author of 12 books of regional history and lore, including Shipwrecks of the Great Lakes, as well as Storied and Scandalous Wisconsin, and Milwaukee Ghosts and Legends.
Mary Elise Antoine
Thursday, April 4, 2024 | 7 – 8 p.m.
Enslaved, Indentured, Free, 1800 to 1850
The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 made slavery illegal in the territory that would later become Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota. However, many Black individuals’ rights were denied by white enslavers who continued to hold them captive in the territory well into the nineteenth century. Enslaved, Indentured, Free shines a light on five extraordinary Black women—Marianne, Mariah, Patsey, Rachel, and Courtney—whose lives intersected in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, during these seminal years.
Join us as Mary Elise Antoine, focusing on the five women listed above, explores the history of slavery in the Upper Mississippi River Valley, relying on legal documents, military records, court transcripts, and personal correspondence. Whether through perseverance, self-purchase, or freedom suits—including one suit that was used as precedent in Dred and Harriet Scott’s freedom suits years later—each of these women ultimately secured her freedom, thanks in part to the bonds they forged with one another.
Mary Elise Antoine is president of the Prairie du Chien Historical Society and former curator at Villa Louis. She is the author of The War of 1812 in Wisconsin and coeditor, with Lucy Murphy, of Frenchtown Chronicles of Prairie du Chien.
Susan Apps-Bodilly, co-author of Old Farm Country Cookbook. Photo courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society.
Saturday, April 20, 2024 | 1 – 3 p.m.
Old Farm Country Cookbook
Return to an era when all food was local and farming was a family-run affair! Author Susan Apps-Bodilly, daughter of beloved storyteller Jerry Apps, will highlight the farm family food that only her paternal grandmother knew how to make. While sampling dishes from Eleanor App’s Depression Era recipe box in the Wade House Stagecoach Inn, you’ll take a culinary tour of life on a Wisconsin farm during the Depression and World War II. By sharing personal stories, menus, and family photos, Apps-Bodilly will recall a time when electricity had not yet found its way to the farm, when making sauerkraut was a family endeavor, and when homemade ice cream tasted better than anything you could buy at the store.
Susan Apps-Bodilly is the author of One Room Schools and coauthor with Jerry Apps of Old Farm Country Cookbook. She has been an elementary and middle school educator in rural and urban school districts in Wisconsin and Ohio and currently teaches second grade.
Wade House’s Taproom Talks Speaker Series will take place at the Wade House Visitor Center located at W7965 Hwy. 23 in Greenbush, WI, halfway between Sheboygan and Fond du Lac. Admission to each lecture is $7 per adult and teens; $5 for seniors and children (5 to 12) and free for children under 5 years of age. For more information and to book your tickets, please visit our website at wadehouse.org or call 920-526-3271.
Wade House Historic Site is one of 12 historic sites and museums owned and operated by the Wisconsin Historical Society.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.
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