Midwest Road Trip: House on the Rock in Spring Green, WI
Last spring I went on a midwest road trip to Wisconsin to a creepy house I’ve heard so much about called House on the Rock. I figured autumn was the best time to finally talk about it, since Halloween may have been last month, but some of us are spooky all year round. It’s also an indoor activity, which are highly coveted around here in the midwest, because indoor activities are all we can really do for about 4-5 months of the year.
House on the Rock is located in Spring Green, Wisconsin, and its known for being a great big fever dream, and most notably a road trip attraction. I’ve been meaning to check this place out for a decade, and finally I got a chance to get in the car and drive the 4 hours over to the horror house, and I thought I’d share my experience along with all my haunted imagery from that day. Read ahead or scroll to see the photos of our experience.
The famed statuesque planters designed by the creator of the house. These are spotted all throughout the property and the hotel a few miles from the house.
The drive there and lodging in Spring Green, Wisconsin
House on the rock, for Minneapolis and St. Paul residents, is about 4 hours drive in the direction of Wisconsin Dells and Madison. Its all the same freeway leading to both places, and spring green falls somewhere 30 minutes south of both spots. Also, sidenote: Its actually probably 40 minutes from Madison, which was nice for exploring while not in the house.
The hotel titled after the house is owned by the same estate that owns the House on the Rock, and it has a popular golf course, if thats your thing. Its not mine, but I understand some people like to do sports when they vacation, so I decided to mention that here.
The hotel is actually quite a distance from the House itself, but we knew that this excursion wasn’t considered a day trip, so we booked for convenience and proximity. The house will take up an entire chunk of your day, so keep that in mind when booking your stay. The hotel directly affiliated with The House offers a package with free “ultimate experience” tickets with any 2 night stay. That worked well for us, so that’s the package we chose.
How long does it take to explore House on the Rock?
As I already mentioned, the house requires it’s own day. They say that you can tour the house in 3 hours, but we knew we would want to look at things for a long time, which led to a 4-5 hour day. If you don’t enjoy the smaller details in things, it would probably realistically take about 3-4 hours. They also offer shorter tours of only the main house, but since we did the hotel stay with tickets, we got the “ultimate” tour or something, and that involved seeing 3 of the houses.
Worth noting: I noticed the house has a lot of ramps, stairs, and steps, so keep that in mind if you or a friend have a disability that makes walking challenging. The house does declare themselves wheelchair accessible (except in some of the bridge-ier areas) which is nice. Also, there’s no time constraints, so long as you arrive early, so give yourself the time necessary to explore it with pauses or breaks, if needed.
(I, myself, had a broken toe while walking through the house, and I made it, but I did get a couple good bumps to the toe simply from not knowing there was going to be a step upcoming.)
Our experience and favorite sights at House on the Rock
I did my best to avoid knowing anything before going in. I actually imagined a very small house before seeing photos of the house itself. So when we arrived, I was impressed at the size of the house, because it felt like a neverending labyrinth. Here I was imagining a 2 story “mansion” or something… no, this is a massive house that has 2 japanese gardens, and like 4 or so properties that you get coaxed through. It's very large!
Upon entering, we learned the history of the house, and then we walked to the houses itself. Some parts were incredibly haunting and unusual. There comes a point where you think you’re going to see a house with some stuff in it, but you turn a corner, and suddenly you’re in a literal village with cobblestone streets, fake shops, a fortune teller machine and a giant music machines that play massive music boxes. That’s when it really kicks off!
Eric was especially impressed with the sculpture of a Leviathan whale fighting a giant squid. Its a huge fiberglass installment in a 3 story space, for size context. I was mostly impressed by the many haunting music machines they had throughout, and all the dolls,vintage cameras, and unique glassware. Obviously, we were both impressed by the giant carousels and the red rooms, which are some of their biggest attractions.
It’s a one way route throughout, and we went on a very busy day in May. I think it was Memorial Day weekend, so there were droves of families, and we were all walking in a line most of the time until we’d get to one of the more open locations to spread out. The good thing is its usually not that busy. We just went on a busy weekend. But I’ve seen photos of a couple friends exploring the house at different times than when we went, and it always seems quite empty, so just don’t go Memorial Day weekend like us, and you’ll basically have the whole place to yourself. (which is my dream tbh. I hate crowds and I love not being rushed by people walking behind me)
My tips for a day at House on the Rock:
Wear walking shoes
I wore Teva hiking sandals, because earlier that month I had broken my toe, and shoes with a toe box were a little constricting at the time… but I really wished I wore Nike trainers or that I’d bought a pair of Hokas or something in advance of the trip.
Eat a big lunch
3-5 hours is a long time! I think we packed granola bars as though we were hiking a mountain or something, and believe me, they came in handy. There are concessions part way through, an ice cream parlour and a pizza by the slice place with seating, so bring some money to buy a snack if you find yourself getting hungry!
Bring a big comfy cozy sweater or a jacket
Anything that you can remove easily and put back on easily will do. It’s frigid in there at points. We went right at the beginning of the summer season, and the house was still cold in parts and I was in a tank top and overalls. I was like “dang… should have brought a cardigan!” probably at least 5 times.
Take allergy medication if you have seasonal allergies
I have allergies, and I took a Zyrtec before entering the space because I knew it was probably gonna be dusty. The house does have an older smell akin to a vintage store, and it is dusty.
I read some rude little reviews on yelp that said things like, “Disgusting! So dusty! You can tell no one dusts!” like yeah, its 3 big houses full of cursed items, you really think they come through with a swiffer every 2 hours? Get real sharon. Just take a Zyrtec. Your nose will thank you.
Conclusions?
I don’t know if I have any really wild conclusions to make on this blog. It was half a year ago at this point. I think it was exactly 6 months ago now. Sorry that it took me so long to recap! I actually rewrote this blog post twice, because back in June I had writers block.
Its published way late, but I’m giving myself some grace, so thanks for reading this travel log on our midwest road trip to the House on the Rock! If you love cursed images and dungeon-like conditions, definitely give it a go, because you’ll love it! We’re definitely gonna go back someday.
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The largest carousel in the House on the Rock! It is not able to hold passengers, but it was such a sight to see! It was apparently featured in a book by Neil Gaiman called American Gods. It also makes an appearance in the show American Gods as well.
