The Walker House

Stopped here on a group tour. Service and staff was great! Our meal included bruschetta, spinach and artichoke toasts, organic fresh picked lettuce salad, pass-​tea (pot pie like pastry chicken was great) followed by strawberry ice cream and brownie sundae for dessert.
Everything was delicious, a great historic landmark !
Service is by reservation only for all group sizes and they also offer lodging.

I enjoy getting to know Wisconsin by finding little towns I’ve never been to before, then spending a couple days exploring them. I can’t remember how I came across the Walker House but I imagine I was merely searching online –I just remember finding the reviews and looking at their website. It had great reviews and looked unusual so I emailed them my reservation.
The Walker House is like a B&B in that they rented me a room and fed me, and I certainly felt like a guest in their expansive home (which one cannot simply walk into as if it were a hotel). Reservations must be made, at least a day in advance, to stay or eat there. Once in, it’s like being in a great old boarding house. The ground floor contains a dining hall and old pub (with two small caves acting as pub nooks). The second floor holds a second dining hall, the kitchen, bathrooms, and a couple guest rooms. On the third floor you’ll find the remainder of the guest rooms and a few bathrooms. The bathrooms are shared, and the U-​shape of the building encompasses a beautiful outdoor stone patio with tables, chairs and a chimenea. Most everything in the inn is stone or wood, clean and well-​maintained.
It is a beautiful building to explore, with wonderful art throughout, framed by staff using wood from their workshop, where they also build tables and wood accents for the inn. The owners and staff are incredibly warm and friendly, and getting to know them was the highlight of my visit. Such care is put into the inn, the art, and the food –everything created from scratch, everything shared with the mindful intent to welcome the guest.
(I should mention that I was the lone guest during my stay, but if that hadn’t been the case I’m sure meeting the other lodgers would’ve added to the social atmosphere. If you’ve enjoyed staying in hostels while traveling, I’m sure you’ll love this place.)
Whether you want to stay the weekend or come for dinner (alone or with 30 friends), give them a call. The inn is walking distance to the historic High Street of Mineral Point, lined with lovely little shops, taverns, and galleries. I will definitely be visiting the Walker House again and again!

We stayed in a large corner room with a king size bed. After a day of handmade ramen, a hike in the beautiful state park, and dinner of Wisconsin beef and cheese, I was ready for sleep. But first I had to take a shower.
I neglected to bring the little bottle of shampoo and conditioner, and the hand soap, to the shared bathroom down the hall. Inside the bathroom, I saw the personal effects of fellow travelers. Though I recognized I was stepping into what was, at best, an ethically grey area, I decided it wouldn’t be so bad to use a little bit of these guests’ shampoo.
Later on I lay back in the comfortable king size bed, relaxing in the old bones of the historic inn. There was a loud knocking on the door. Shit, I thought, the other guests figured out I used their shampoo, and their pissed. A male voice called out loudly, «Tornado! You have 1 minute to come downstairs!»
In a blind panic, I took only my camera. My girlfriend and I followed the innkeeper, Dan, down multiple flights of stairs, through the dining room, and down into the very old basement of the Walker House. There we were lead into a man-​made cave, where the other guests were already seated.
I wondered if they could smell my fear, or maybe their own shampoo in my hair. Kathy, Dan’s wife, was seated in the cave, wearing a yellow teeshirt with the handwritten phrase, «I survived the tsunami,» in red. She asked if I heard the tornado. I listened, and in the cave’s echo I did hear the tornado. «Yes I hear it», I told her. She said that was just the town of Mineral Point’s emergency siren.
While we spoke, a five hundred foot wide tornado tore through neighboring Dodgeville, and ripped up a huge grain combine. I had never before been so close to the destructive power of nature, and it was Kathy and Dan that kept me safe.
Kathy also gave me homemade M&M cookies, and loaf of strawberry bread for the ride home. They were also very understanding when we saw a derecho (line of thunderstorms, accompanied by the possibility of tornados) approaching the next day and decided to get the heck out of Dodgeville.
We will be back in Mineral Point at some point in the near future, for the mellow artist vibe, the handmade ramen, to float in Cox Hollow Lake in a tube, and see that waterfall, and when we come back, we would love to return to the Walker House.
It’s got great history, clean, comfortable, affordable rooms, two of the best innkeepers of all time (both of whom are Maineiacs) and really delicious homemade baked goods. Did I mention the tornado-​proof 200 year old caves?

The current owners are still finishing up renovations but have done an excellent job bringing this place back to its glory. Everywhere you look are beautiful photos. Our room (#2) has a comfy king bed and great sunlight. We came back and relaxed in one of the caves with some wine and a book after dinner. Rates are affordable and there are plenty of bathrooms, which are shared. We would definitely stay here again.

We were coming last-​minute to Mineral Point and were glad to find lodging on short notice. It was an okay price for Mineral Point historic lodging, too (less than $ 100).
The place is ancient outside (one of the oldest buildings in town, predating Wisconsin statehood) but very clean inside. Everything is new, floors, doors, hardware — there seems to have been an extensive rehab of the whole structure. The walls and window wells of the building are 18 inches thick and the structure is built INTO the side of the cliff. The décor has lots of wood. Unique to any place I’ve ever stayed, the furniture is made from wood cut from 30 miles away or less. The bedside tables, the wall brackets, the picture hanging rails, all are made nearby from local trees.
The heat was good and the room Wi-​Fi worked fine. The free breakfast was ample.
Walker House is right behind what is probably the best restaurant/​brewpub in town, Brewery Creek, which we found to be very convenient.

My mother chose the Walker House as the venue for my college graduation dinner, and I think everyone in our party enjoyed himself or herself. I sure did.
The mini pasties were very good, perhaps better than the pasty that my grandmother makes. I especially enjoyed the thin, crispy, flaky crust. The dinner rolls (free refills!) were also really good, very dense and moist. I also had a cup of onion soup — very good, but slightly salty.
For my main course, I had the chicken pomodoro and a pint of Spotted Cow. Yay, Spotted Cow! Pasta pomodoro doesn’t usually have chicken in it, but it sounded like a tasty twist on a relatively simple dish, so I went for it. It was pretty good, but the dish had an unexpected, somewhat spicy flavor not found in traditional pasta pomodoro. Overall, it was pretty good, but it would have been better if the spiciness hadn’t overpowered the flavors of the basil and tomatoes. Also, there was a noticeable pool of liquid in the bottom of the pasta bowl, left over from the tomato sauce, and I shook drops of liquid from the last few bites of pasta before I ate them. Tomatoes do contain quite a bit of moisture, but I’ve had pasta pomodoro that didn’t have this problem, so I’m not sure what was going on here. Basically, a little less liquid and a little less spice would have been perfect. The portion size was spot-​on.
The waitstaff were great at juggling the orders of our large group, and the interior (carpeting, furniture, artwork, etc.) was pretty nice.
Despite the minor flaws, the Walker House is a fine choice for dining in Mineral Point.