New Glarus

New Glarus, about one hour from Whitewater, is a small town founded by Swiss settlers in 1845. They got here because there was not enough land in Glarus, and people suffered from hunger. So the Glarner government supported the over 100 emigrants with money to buy land in Wisconsin. The journey took 4 months, and several people were dying during this time. Very poor in the first years, the settlers worked hard and the town grew remarkably.



Today, New Glarus is famous as "Swiss Village" and has a broad offer of restaurants, and a nice museum. We enjoyed the cheese fondue in a chalet...


The first church, rebuildt.