Things to Do

Appleton punches above its weight for a city of 75,000. The Fox River, Harry Houdini's birthplace, and a lively liberal arts college campus give the downtown real variety.

things to do

Guide

Things to Do

01

Hearthstone Historic House Museum

The Hearthstone Historic House Museum is a beautifully preserved Queen Anne mansion from 1882 that claims a genuinely significant place in technological history. When …

Museum
02

History Museum at the Castle

Housed inside a turreted former Masonic temple dating to 1923, the History Museum at the Castle is the best place to understand both Appleton's …

Museum
03

Lawrence University

Lawrence University is one of the best small liberal arts colleges in the Midwest, and its Conservatory of Music gives Appleton a cultural life …

Sight
04

Fox Cities Performing Arts Center

The Fox Cities Performing Arts Center is the main venue for touring Broadway productions, orchestral concerts, and dance companies passing through the Fox Valley. …

Sight
05

Gordon Bubolz Nature Preserve

On the northern edge of Appleton, the Gordon Bubolz Nature Preserve protects nearly 800 acres of forests, wetlands, and meadows along the Fox River. …

Sight
06

Paper Discovery Center

The Paper Discovery Center is a waterfront museum in an old paper mill, focused on the industry that shaped Appleton and the Fox River …

Museum
07

Trout Museum of Art

The Trout Museum of Art is Appleton's main visual arts institution, located right in the downtown on College Avenue. The museum focuses on Midwestern …

Museum
08

Vulcan Street Plant

A modest but genuinely important historic marker stands near the Fox River where the Vulcan Street Plant once hummed in 1882. This was the …

Sight
09

Kate Blood Gravestone

In Riverside Cemetery on the south side of Appleton stands a single gravestone set apart from the rest — the marker of Kate Blood, …

Sight