Small-town artists' enclave

MINERAL POINT, Wis.

For the first-time visitor, this is a town of surprises.

Its art studios and galleries sit among the inherent elements of a working small town -- Ivy's Pharmacy, Desiree's Hair Salon, the Mineral Point Self-Service Coin-op Laundry.

For a tourist destination -- it was voted "most beautiful town" and "best historic town" by the Wonders of Wisconsin Website in 2008, and the entire city was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 -- its hilly streets are blissfully uncrowded. There are no large tour groups, no children tearing through souvenir shops.

There are no souvenir shops.

"We have no T-shirts except at the grocery store, the chamber [of commerce] and the dime store," says Leslie Bohlin, proprietor of Bohlin Gallery at the foot of High Street. "No T-shirt shops, no knickknack shops here."

"At one time," says Curt Theobald, working behind the counter at Commerce Street Antiques, "they did a survey about being like Galena, where you have tons of people coming in, tour buses and like that. But people said they didn't want to be like Galena. They'd rather [be known by] word of mouth."

So spread the word: Mineral Point (pop. 2,617) has charm. And history. And art. And, mostly, a friendliness that borders on the pathological.

"I fell in love with Mineral Point the minute I came here," says Theobald, who has called the town home since 1963. "And such unique people. Mineral Point is so friendly."

That's obvious. Walk into a gallery and strike up a conversation with an artist, and you're likely to get a demonstration, history lesson or tour of the building. Or all three. Spend two days in town, and by the end of the second, people in passing cars will honk and wave.

"It's a place where nice people just happened to land, people from all over the country," Bohlin says.

People have been landing in Mineral Point for two centuries. The first folks, in the early 1800s, were miners and prospectors. When lead deposits were discovered in the 1820s, the town began to thrive. And 10 years later, word of the mineral deposits reached Cornwall, England, prompting an influx of Cornish miners and their families. Their legacy can still be seen today.

The miners built small homes, reminiscent of those back in Cornwall, using local limestone. The neighborhood became known as Shake Rag -- according to legend, it got its name because the women in the settlement would shake a rag at mealtime to signal the men working in the nearby mines.

Over time, the limestone homes were abandoned or leveled. It wasn't until the 1930s that two local preservationists, Bob Neal and Edgar Hellum, stepped forward and began saving the structures.

Stepping back in time

The first home that Neal and Hellum rescued was dubbed Pendarvis, following the Cornish tradition of naming homes. Other cottages followed, and the Pendarvis settlement was born. Now owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, it is open year-round for prearranged group tours. Otherwise, the season is mid-May through October.

Visitors also can see several other 19th- and 20th-century buildings that have been restored: the 1867 Gundry House, the newly reopened Mineral Point Opera House (from 1915) and the pre-Civil War Mineral Point Railroad Depot (now a museum), for example. The two main streets in town, High and Commerce, are chockablock with treasures from the late 19th century.

And it's in many of those buildings where you will find Mineral Point's other treasures: its artists.

There are 70 or 80 artists in the community, says Bruce Howdle, owner of Howdle Studio on Commerce Street and a 34-year resident. That means 2 to 3 percent of residents create art.

"We convinced some artists years ago to buy their property," says Howdle, whose pig sculptures are somewhat legendary. "It wasn't like Pipers Alley or Old Town [in Chicago], where people rented. When prices went up [there], people were forced out."

So the artists stayed, renovating properties and creating a true arts community. "It's a working community, even among the artists," Howdle says. "The person working or clerking in that gallery probably made some of those items."

Then he adds: "Human culture is starving for the human touch. Art adds quality to life."