Wide, tree-lined pathways; brick and stone buildings covered in ivy; playing fields; a clock tower—The American Club Resort in Kohler, Wisconsin, feels so much like a college campus, I wished I had packed a letter sweater. I visited in the fall, when the trees were changing colors and the air was brisk, and the whole place just gave me the warm fuzzies.
Along with brocade pillows, plush tassled curtains, and gold wallpaper, my room, which was named for Clarence Darrow, was furnished with portraits and a biography of the Scopes Trial lawyer. Like a studious history major, I took them in carefully. Cozying up with a drink in front of a fireplace in book-lined hotel lobby, out in the leafy courtyard around the fire pit, or inside the stained-glass greenhouse, I decompressed amid old-school luxury and relived my gin-soaked Ivy days.
In fact, the hotel was originally a dormitory, built in 1918 for the young male foundry workers at Kohler, a 140-year-old family-owned company that started out manufacturing farming equipment. Eventually the Kohlers applied the cast-iron they used to make ploughs to plumbing, and the company grew to be the iconic kitchen and bath fixture brand that it is today. Sleepy, squeaky-clean Kohler, Wisconsin, is the company's hand-built town. In the Kohler Design Center a stone's throw from The American Club, I stood covetous before the sleek, multi-jointed Karbon kitchen faucet that lets you stream water wherever you want without having to hold a sprayer, and the Smart-Divide sink, with that low saddle between the basins that makes it so great for washing cutting boards and sheet pans. If I had had the time, I could have taken a tour of the factory where these cook-friendly fixtures are made.
I should've not been so taken aback, then, when I turned on the tub filler in my whirlpool bath and the water fell with a thunder from the ceiling. The shower featured four adjustable body jets and an enormous rain-style head. In the spa, in between exfoliation and a long, bubbly soak, I was treated from all sides to warm cascades of water emanating from a machine that looked like a body scanner.
But the resort is more than a luxurious sideline to the plumbing business. Way back when, I edited golf guides, so I knew before arriving that Kohler's Whistling Straits and Blackwolf Run courses are championship quality—the sites of numerous LPGA and PGA tournaments. Teeing off at Whistling Straits, with greens on cliffs that plummet down into Lake Michigan, is serious business.
I'm not a championship golfer, however; I am a championship diner. And, so, I dined. In the dark, moody Immigrant Restaurant, the juicy rack of lamb came with a proper English pea purée. Better yet was dinner in the slightly more casual Wisconsin Room, where the young chef Alexander Glass has constructed a smart locavore menu. Some of the provender comes from neighboring farms; some of it straight from the ground outside, where the chef keeps two tidy gardens. An iceberg salad with Wisconsin's Carr Valley smoked blue cheese, house-cured bacon, cherry tomatoes, and chives had a classic vibe but fresh, snappy appeal. A roasted butternut squash soup garnished with a swirl of local cider panna cotta, pumpkin seeds and oil, and a cranberry relish had a creamy decadence. Great Lakes pan-seared walleye on a bed of Chieftain black beluga lentils and Wilfert Farms sweet corn purée was a water-meets-earth pleasure. I was happy—relieved, in fact—to see such a sustainable approach to cooking in the northern Heartland. It makes so much sense when you're surrounded by farmlands, and yet it's much more rare here than on either coast. Right on, then, for chef Glass.
If I had had the time, I would have experienced more of the sustainable side of Kohler at the River Wildlife nature sanctuary abutting Blackwolf Run, where I could have taken a local game dinner at the log-cabin Lodge Restaurant. Alas, no time for creamy pheasant and wild mushroom soup. I had to get back to Milwaukee and my flight. Had it not been Sunday, when the entire state seems shut up tight, I would have stopped on my way for a bratwurst at the Charcoal Inn in Sheboygan, a mere 10 minutes from Kohler, for a different kind of Wisconsin meal. As it was, I contented myself with a brisk, chilly walk amid the beach scrub on the shores of Lake Michigan at the desolate and beautiful Kohler-Andrae State Park, one more pleasurable legacy of the plumbing dynasty.
—Catherine Smart In the Area:
- Kohler-Andrae State Park: Along two miles of Lake Michigan shorefront, this 988-acre park offers hikes through sand dunes and cordgrass, wetlands, and forest, with plenty of wildlife, including more than 150 species of birds. 1020 Beach Park Lane, Sheboygan, WI 53081; 920/451-4080
- River Wildlife: Kohler's private 500-acre nature reserve includes 37 miles of trails through woodlands and along the lazily winding Sheboygan River. Activities include archery, fishing, canoeing, and horseback riding. 1116 W Riverside Dr, Kohler, WI 53044; 920/457-0134
- Blackwolf Run and Whistling Straits Golf Courses: The reason the pros come to Kohler, these courses offer championship-style challenges and beauty. 1111 W Riverside Dr, Kohler, WI 53044; 920/457-4446
- The Charcoal Inn: The two locations of this Sheboygan serve some of Wisconsin's best down-home food, including butter-grilled bratwurst with pickles and onions, fried perch, and a glorious poppy seed torte. 1313 S 8th St, Sheboygan, WI; 920/458-6988 and 1637 Geele Ave, Sheboygan, WI; 920/458-1147
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