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Experience mid-19th century life inside this Greendale cabin

This week on Urban Spelunking, we're heading to Greendale to visit a mid-19th century home that has been preserved as a living museum.

The former Jeremiah Curtin house sits in a present-day public park, which also includes a swath of land that was one time called Trimborn Farm. There is a live-in caretaker on the site, and one of the buildings -- the Curtin house -- is open to public visitors in season, during non-pandemic times.

Jeremiah Curtin's former home in Greendale. Photo credit: Bobby Tanzio / OnMilwaukee

The Curtin name may sound familiar. Curtin "would later gain fame as a scholar, author, translator, folklorist," writes OnMilwaukee's Bobby Tanzilo, after leaving Milwaukee to attend Harvard University and graduating in 1863. There is also a building bearing his name on the UW-Milwaukee campus.

A look inside the kitchen, complete with a standee of Curtin himself.

On this podcast, we learn about the Curtin family history, and we touch on the early roots of Greendale, one of a handful of planned "greenbelt" communities in the nation.

Take a listen to the podcast, and visit OnMilwaukee for more photos and history.

Director of Digital Content | Radio Milwaukee