Wade House’s Hearthside Dinner

Cooking enthusiasts, food aficionados and history lovers looking for a
culinary adventure can experience a historic cooking and dining experience at Wade House’s
Hearthside Dinner series. Held in the original 1850s stagecoach inn located in rural
Wisconsin, this guest-prepared dinner is a nostalgic journey to another time and place
where simple ingredients, freshly picked and preserved, are prepared in a wood-heated cast
iron stove or cooked on an open-hearth fire.
The cooking experience begins in the inn’s rustic kitchen, with its 19th-century stove and
open-hearth fireplace. Here, staff in period clothing help guests prepare popular dishes from
a century ago, utilizing historic cooking methods. Once the meal is cooked, guests retreat to
the inn’s dining room to enjoy the fruits of their labor. The four-hour Hearthside Dinner
experience, held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. to capture the inn’s natural light.