Tiny Elkhart Lake celebrates year-round sustainability
By Abigail Lewis
In Los Angeles we’re blessed with an abundance of restaurants catering to health-conscious foodies, but imagine an entire town emphasizing local, organic and sustainable. What if nearly every restaurant and business actively supported regional farmers and ranchers, as well as each other? When that happens, food becomes inextricably interwoven with a sustainable local economy.
Way east of our trendy culinary mecca, in a part of the country once fled by many a current Southlander, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin is just such a town. Admittedly it’s a good bit smaller than L.A., but that in itself is hardly a guarantee of harmony; business owners in plenty of similarly sized burgs—this one’s year-round population is 947—tolerate one another with bared teeth as they battle for market share. Elkhart Lake, however, seems to be a thumbnail of the Macy’s Santa Claus philosophy in the classic film Miracle on 34th Street: If one host can’t accommodate, you’ll be happily directed elsewhere. Miraculously, local business owners understand that a rising tide floats all boats.
And in this case the boats aren’t just figurative. The town takes its name from a serene, spring-fed lake notorious for its healing waters. While it’s difficult to vouch for the healing part—although the tap water at the Osthoff Resort seems unusually silken—it does have a magical quality.
The water’s curative reputation attracted early visitors who arrived first by horse and carriage, later by train, hoping to recuperate from such ailments as consumption and tuberculosis. Trains also brought fashionable “Gilded Age” visitors from Chicago, St. Louis and Milwaukee.
In the early 1900s Prohibition was decidedly not observed here, and the Paddock Club has photos to prove it. Gangsters trafficked libations from Canada for guests who came to gamble and play the slots. Local lore holds that gaming machines hurriedly dispensed with during a bust still lurk beneath the lake’s usually placid surface.
But for maybe 10,000 years before the area became popular for gamblers and vacationers, Potawatomi natives—who named the lake Great Heart Lake for its resemblance to an elk’s heart—enjoyed the bounty of this fertile land, including deer, elk and bear, all mostly gone now. Henschel’s Indian Museum is filled with with their beads and blades, arrowheads and bones, bear teeth and an atladdle (a tool used to launch arrows), some of which reputedly date to 8,000 BC. Amiable Gary Henschel readily shares stories of the burial caves on the property his family has owned since 1849, one of which is still accessible.
Something for Everyone
Despite its diminutive size, Elkhart Lake accommodates a variety of tastes and budgets, with summer homes dotting the shoreline, historic B&Bs, and three adjacent beachfront resorts where guests casually wander back and forth enjoying the various amenities.
The four-diamond, all-suite Osthoff’s traditional décor is the most sophisticated, as behooves a resort that offers conference seating for a thousand; all units have cozy fireplaces, balconies and well-equipped kitchenettes. Onsite indulgences include the gorgeously redesigned Aspira Spa, L’ecole de la Maison French cooking school (butter and cream heaven, not recommended for vegans), and both in- and outdoor pools.
Next door, Siebkens has been in the same family since 1916. The original building has a delightful vintage lake-cottage ambience with antiques, aged hardwood floors and creaky stairs. There are also three-bedroom units with kitchen and front patio—a great family option, and newer timeshare units (as at all the resorts here) to let by the night. And on the other side of Siebkens, family friendly Victorian Village boasts in- and outdoor pools, one right by the outdoor Tiki Bar overlooking the beach—the perfect place for a sunset swim and cocktail.
Places To Eat, Things To Do
In a town this quiet—at 10:30 on a mild June evening, this strolling writer encountered not one other person on any of the “downtown” streets—you might expect nothing more than a bar and a coffee shop. But the family-run Paddock Club—Cheri Han manages, sister Lynn Chisholm chefs, another sister does the marketing and their brother restored and renovated the historic building—is all brick and dark neutrals with a menu that combines seasonal ingredients and a European culinary tradition, readily adapted to vegan requests. Pastas and breads are produced in house, and they even make their own cocktail bitters. Be sure to ask if the ramps are in season!
Nearby, Lake Street Café offers sophisticated bistro dining, again local and sustainably sourced. Their menu notes dishes that are gluten free and includes such delicacies as Escargot Cassoulet and Pan-seared Wild Alaskan Halibut with shaved asparagus salad. Proprietors Lynn and John will happily advise on an accompanying wine from their Wine Spectator Award-winning list.
Although all of the resorts offer dining options, two are particularly noteworthy. Lola’s at the Osthoff serves pastured beef, greens from the organic hotel garden, and wild-caught fish, and is happy to cater to any dietary needs; and Siebkens’ historic Cocktail Bar, located off the Main Dining Room, has been a renowned watering hole for racecar drivers for decades.
One general caveat that may relate more to the California palate than local kitchens: dishes tend to be saltier than we are accustomed to, so be sure to check with your server.
You’ll need to work off some of that delicious food, so head for the 13,000-acre Sheboygan County Marsh Park and climb its 80-foot-tall observation tower. Or go just south of town, where the northern unit of the Kettle Moraine State Forest offers hundreds of miles of biking and hiking trails. An observation tower on the 3.5-mile Parnell Tower Trail offers sweeping views of the glacier-carved terrain.
In warm weather you can swim, kayak, fish, sail, paddleboard or pontoon on the lake. Golf and horseback riding are nearby, or get
centered with a yoga or meditation class in the full-service Aspira Spa, ranked #3 in the Condé Nast Traveler spa poll. Elegantly redesigned to incorporate both feng shui and local Native American traditions, its menu includes such unique treatments as the Cedars Massage, using native cedar “to purify and protect”; and the signature Sacred Waters Massage, which uses the healing Elkhart Lake waters to assist in penetrating deep tissues. Leave time to relax in the co-ed Jacuzzi afterward, meditate in the sanctuary of the four-directions circle or sink into a comfy chair in the library.
Looking for excitement? The nearby Road America racetrack is world renowned, and even if you miss the annual race, you can still do some offroading (try the Drop into Darkness tour) or take a course in high performance driving or SuperMoto.
Elkhart Lake is ideal for a summer getaway or family reunion, and autumn’s colors are glorious, but winter is also quite special here, and well worth a side trip if you’re home for the holidays. December brings carriages and fairy lights, an Old World Christmas Market, hayrides and breakfast with Santa, plus caroling and sublime decorations.
Truly, you can’t go wrong in any season at Elkhart Lake. It’s a three-hour drive from Chicago and in another state entirely, but don’t let that fool you into slipping off for a secret rendezvous; it’s deservedly popular, and as at least one startled visitor learned, you never know who else might be escaping to this not-so-remote resort in the heart of the heartland.
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