Second Saturdays - Maywood Then and Now

Dave Kukuck, Executive Director, of the Elwood H. May Environmental Park, will present “Maywood: Then and Now” - A journey through history to see how the land provided for its people through the years, and now how the land is a source of education to reacquaint people with the land stewardship of those who first occupied it. We’ll discover the change from farm to educational facility with the mission of connecting our community with the natural world.

Second Saturdays - CANCELLED DUE TO WEATHER

CANCELLED. STAY HOME. STAY SAFE. Will be rescheduled for 2020-2021 season. Steve Daily will introduce us to a local treasure, the Chudnow Museum of Yesteryear, 839 North 11th Street, Milwaukee, where he serves as director. It’s a non-profit organization that operates as a Milwaukee history museum in a historic building displaying the late Avrum Chudnow’s (1913-2005) extensive and eclectic collection of early 20th Century Americana. The museum contains various shops and exhibits from his collection, from between the World Wars, chiefly the 1920's and 1930's era. AvrumChudnow, a Milwaukee attorney and real estate developer, filled his law office with odds and ends he had picked up from weekend trips to flea markets and small town shops. Chudnow loved history and focused on objects that were once everyday items, those things of the average person’s material culture. This will prompt a road trip to Milwaukee.

SS - Over the top with Milwaukee Victorians & Great Buildings of the Cream City

Excesses of the Gilded Age and Built in Milwaukee: The Great Buildings of the Cream City’s Past. Enjoy a fun and informative morning with John Eastberg, Executive Director of the Frederick Pabst Mansion in Milwaukee. John returns to present, “Age of Excess: Victorians Going over the Top”, a collection of short stories about people, places and objects that capture one of the great periods in American history, the Gilded Age. John has presented other programs about Milwaukee’s history leading up to the Gilded Age. This is the next chapter. He will also present, Built in Milwaukee: The Great Buildings of the Cream City’s Past exploring the great cream city brick edifices that gave Milwaukee its nicknames. This should be a goody!!

Second Saturdays - The Quiet Season

Remembering Country Winters with Jerry Apps In this program, we will screen and preview the newest WPT documentary featuring Jerry Apps. As we will see as we watch and analyze "The Quiet Season, Remembering Country Winters", Jerry recalls winters growing up on a farm in central Wisconsin during the latter years of the Depression and through World War II. Wisconsin winters then were a time of reflection, of planning for next year, and of families drawing together. Jerry describes how winter influenced farm families and suggests that those of us who grow up with harsh northern winters are profoundly affected in ways we often are not aware.

Second Saturdays - The Fresnel lenses of Kewaunee and Algoma Lighthouses

Join Wisconsin independent filmmaker Jake Heffernan for a rare look inside two of Lake Michigan's historic lighthouses, as the Kewaunee and Algoma Lighthouses have their Fresnel lenses changed. The pierhead lighthouses of Kewaunee and Algoma have marked the entrance to the small cities for more than 100 years. On June 6th, 2019, the 5th Order Fresnel Lenses from each lighthouse were carefully removed from the towers and replaced by LED lights. The Kewaunee lens is on display at the Kewaunee Historical Center. The Algoma lens was transported to Milwaukee where it’s awaiting display at the North Point Lighthouse Museum. Jake Heffernan takes us through early light technology of US Lighthouses and the introduction of the highly efficient Fresnel Lens. Then, watch the tedious, nail biting process of the removal of the extremely delicate lenses from their towers.

Second Saturdays - Raising the Alvin Clark

Raising the Alvin Clark from the Depths of Green Bay Join Richard Bennett, Lecturer, author and diver as he presents, “Raising the Alvin Clark from the Depths of Green Bay.” Bennett, whose career in commercial diving has included adventures like salvaging wreckages in the Cayman Islands and searching for the sunken schooner Alvin Clark in Green Bay. The Alvin Clark was down 110 feet in the frigid waters of Green Bay, 105 foot two mast schooner, down for 105 years, Bennett was part of the recovery. He's also the author of three books: ‘Deep Quest-The Entry’, ‘The Sunken Treasure of Poverty Island Brief’, ‘Island of Bones’ Bennett: Received the Our World Underwater – ‘Middle Coast Award’ “for his dedication and contributions to Midwest Diving” in February 2017 at Rosemont, Ill Received the PADI award for ‘50 years of Leadership in, Diver Training Excellence, Passion for Aquatic Exploration and Dedication to Diver Education.’ in November 2016 at DEMA. Received the ‘Platinum Pro 5000 Award’ from Scuba Schools International in 1994 -------------------------------------------------------------

Second Saturdays – Journeys Into Local History – Sheboygan County Historical Research Center

Q: Second Saturdays - UFOs of Wisconsin

It has been noted, now that so many people have high-definition video cameras in their pockets at all times, that UFO evidence hasn't really skyrocketed. One would imagine that the sightings that used to be so vividly described would now be accompanied by crisp, clean video evidence, but this hasn't been the case. Some people feel that this dearth of proof is actually proof of the nonexistence of extraterrestrial visitors, at least in the classic flying-disc form. Chad Lewis, a UFO researcher and author based in the Eau Claire, Wis., area, isn't bothered. For him, it's not that stories of aliens or sasquatches or weird hellmouths in country graveyards are to be disproven or proven — it's about the stories themselves, and about what they tell us about the people who lived in a particular place and what their beliefs may have been at the time that any given supernatural event is purported to have occurred. Lewis isn't looking for the truth in the way that Scully and Mulder did on “The X-Files.” He's just interested in collecting the stories and telling them to others. This presentation will include sightings and around Dundee, Wisconsin, our own local hotspot.