15 Lesser-Known Facts About Wisconsin

Whether you are an adventure buff who loves to explore challenging geographies or a gourmand fond of artisanal cheese, America's dairyland aka Wisconsin has many attractions up its sleeve that drive tourists around the world in droves.

From birdwatching to canoeing, snowmobiling to hiking—there is no paucity of high-octane activities in Wisconsin. With that being said, there's so much more to the dairy state than cheese and cranberries. Get ready to read some lesser-known facts about Wisconsin.

#1: The first-ever kindergarten class in the USA was held in Watertown, Wisconsin. Started in 1856, the class began at a German couple's house, which today welcomes visitors as a museum.

#2: Contrary to popular belief, the state symbol of Wisconsin, which is the badger, has got nothing to do with the animal but miners who burrowed holes to sleep in. That's some similarity you got there.

#4: At 70 acres, Noah's Ark in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin is the largest water park in the United States. For those who have a thing for heart-pounding aquatic adventures, this is the place to be!

#5: The production and consumption of margarine, a relatively inexpensive alternative to butter was forbidden in Wisconsin from 1895 to 1967 as it threatened the popularity of the latter—which was the primary source of livelihood for many dairy makers back then.

#6: America's dairyland gets its name from its namesake river, which was once known as "meskousing" meaning "it lies red" in the Native American tongue. Over the years, it has undergone iterations in spelling and pronunciation before finally becoming Wisconsin.

#7: Mount Horeb, a quaint little town near Madison, Wisconsin is known as the "Troll Capital of the World" boasting a number of whimsical troll sculptures that attract many a local and tourist.

#8: The iconic cheese wedge-shaped foam hat known as the "Wisconsin Cheesehead" that Wisconsinites wear on baseball game day was made by a Milwaukee resident using a couch cushion which he burned holes into and colored to make it look like cheddar.

#9: If you ever wondered how far you could toss dried patties of cow dung, then you should definitely visit Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin during their 2-day annual Cow Chip Throwing Festival.

#10: World's beloved Barbie hails from the fictional town of Willows which is in Wisconsin. Barbie supposedly went to the Willows High School.

#11: Marathon County, Wisconsin is the largest producer of Ginseng in the United States. The county's terroir is attributed to the superlative quality of the root crop, exporting it more than a million pounds a year.

#12: The invention of the QWERTY layout in the keyboard is credited to a printer, politician, and newspaper editor, Christopher Latham Sholes, a native of Milwaukee. He continued to make improvements in the layout as he wanted to make a simpler and efficient system for typists.

#13: Wisconsin hosts a number of exciting cranberry festivals, including the world's largest 3-day celebration of the tiny state fruit—Warrens Cranberry Festival.

#14: La Crosse in Wisconsin boasts the world's largest Six Pack (six pack of beer), precisely 54-foot-tall storage tanks, holding 688,200 barrels of beer! Holy Moly, that's a lot of suds.

#15: While there are over thousands of licensed cheesemakers in Wisconsin, however, when it comes to the prestigious title of "Master Cheesemaker", the number is still in double digits.

Wisconsin is the only state in the United States with an established Master Cheesemaker program, which needless to say, as one breezes adds oodles of luster to their cheesemaking resume.