Ghost Hunt at Fort Winnebago Surgeons Quarters
2023-08-19 | Fort Winnebago Surgeons Quarters 1824 State Highway 33 Portage, WI 53901
Fort Winnebago Surgeons Quarters in Portage is hosting three paranormal tours after dark this summer.

The Society for Anomalous Studies, famous for its guided paranormal tours of Milton House and other historical locations, will be on site from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 19. The group will use its expertise to investigate Surgeons Quarters and the Garrison School. Tickets, which cost $40, are limited.

Located at 1824 East State Road 33, the Fort Winnebago Surgeons Quarters is home to two historic buildings: the log cabin, where the U.S. Army surgeons of Fort Winnebago resided from 1834-54, and the Garrison School, a one-room schoolhouse that served local pupils from 1850-1960.

Listed on the Register of Historic Places in 1970, they overlook the site where Louis Joliet and Father Jacques Marquette left the Fox River to portage to the Wisconsin River in 1673. The area of land connecting the waterway was called "wauona" by American Indians in the area, and "le portage" by the French.

The Surgeons Quarters itself originally was the home of Francois LeRoi, a M tis (of French and American Indian descent) who operated a portaging and fur trading business. Built between 1816 and 1819, it is of French post-and-log construction made from tamarack logs.

In addition to special events, the Surgeons Quarters is open to the public from 10 a.m. .to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Oct. 15. For more information, call (608) 742-2949 or visit www.fortwinnebagosurgeonsquarters.org
