All About Twin Lakes, Wisconsin

Want to be like Sarah Palin when she talked about 'seeing Russia from her house'?  But, only talking about Illinois?  Then, a trip to Twin Lakes, Wisconsin is for you.  Seriously.  We can "see Illinois from our dock".   Yep.  For real.  Twin Lakes, Wisconsin is a village in southern Wisconsin that is located just across the border of Wisconsin and Illinois - east of Route 12.  It is about 15 minutes south of the Lake Geneva area.

Twin Lakes gets it's name from...you guessed it:  having two lakes.  Combined for almost 1000 acres of lake, the 'twins' of Elizabeth Lake (the larger one) and Mary Lake give Twin Lakes it's name.  

The Village was incorporated in 1937 - and according to the Village of Twin Lake's website has "enjoyed a long history as the prime home site for Native Americans as well as Settlers who arrived later."  

Also, via the Village of Twin Lakes site, the roots of the town seem to be a combination of vacation-seekers to the old-fashioned resorts and to some entrepreneurs who were there to harvest ice from the lake back when we didn't have refrigerators and needed blocks of ice in the ole' "Ice Box".   The Village's website goes on to say:

Today, while the ice harvesting has ended, many homes in Twin Lakes are used for recreation and the lakes remain a popular destination. Twin Lakes is home to about 6,041 permanent residents with about a third more spending only part of the year here.

The history of Twin Lakes can be found here. 

I've posted a number of times about our time in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin here on the blog.

Lake Elizabeth is home to the Twin Lakes Sailing Club.  The size of Elizabeth Lake is 625 acres.   And, Lake Mary also gets in on the action - with it being the home of the AquaNuts - the six-time National Champions of water skiing.   Amazing stuff - and very 'down home Wisconsin' feel, right?



There's a place in town called Tom's Straw Hat that serves soft serve ice cream that's worth a stop.  They take cash and cards, but charge you a little sur-charge if you want to use your card.  (not cool, Tom.)