During the 1950s, a factory in Paoli, Wisconsin existed and it was renowned for its award-winning Swiss cheese and sweet cream butter. The factory, which had been started by local dairy farmers in the 1880s, closed its doors a century later. As a piece of Wisconsin heritage, the factory has since been revived and now boasts a boutique hotel, restaurant, bar, café, and micro-dairy under the auspices of the Seven Acre Dairy Company.
“We want guests to feel and sense that history from the moment they drive onto the site and step into the business,” said Nic Mink, chief restoration officer and proprietor of Seven Acre Dairy. “This place has been so important to the food of the region [as a cheese and butter factory] that we loved the idea of continuing that legacy.”
Not only is the 21,000-square-foot building featured on the National Register of Historic Places, the furniture in the inn’s rooms has been made using reclaimed wood from the original factory, and there is an entire room dedicated to the Swiss cheese which was manufactured there for more than 25 years.
And don’t worry—there is plenty of dairy options on the menu at both the restaurant and café. Expect to find a reinvention of the Swiss cheese pie that the factory manager’s wife made for staff in the 1930s and 1940s, as well as more modern butter boards and butter-basted beef.
