Oconto County stretches over 1,000 square miles of northeastern Wisconsin, from the Green Bay shoreline in the east to the Nicolet National Forest in the west. Fifty-three lakes with public access and more than 300 miles of trout streams make it serious fishing country. The Oconto River, running south through the county from the national forest to Lake Michigan, draws anglers in autumn for the salmon run and paddlers in summer for its forested upper sections.
The county seat of Oconto holds one of the region's more unusual historical sites: Copper Culture State Park, burial grounds of a civilization that worked copper some 5,000 years ago — among the earliest known metalworkers in North America. Artifacts from these people are on display at the Beyer Historic Home Museum. The West Main Street Historic District offers a self-guided walking tour through the later chapter of the area's past — the logging boom that shaped so much of northern Wisconsin and left behind a solid collection of late Victorian commercial architecture.