Visit the Grignon Mansion and return to the last colorful days of Wisconsin’s fur trade era!
In the days before Wisconsin’s statehood, the Fox River was an important water highway for travelers and fur traders. At a natural portage point along the Fox, where the Mansion now stands, a trading post was established as early as 1760. Charles A. Grignon, whose family had been active in the fur trade for over 100 years, took over this post in 1830.
In 1837, Charles A. Grignon built this elegant Mansion as a wedding gift for his Pennsylvania bride, Mary Elizabeth Meade. An oasis of luxury and civilization on the Wisconsin frontier, this stately home was known as “The Mansion in the Woods” to countless travelers.
The Mansion and the Grignon family were also familiar to local American Indian tribes. The grandson of a Menominee woman, Charles acted as an interpreter for the U.S. government at the Treaty of the Cedars, which transferred four million acres of Menominee land to the U. S. Goverment for European and Euro-American immigration: the area now known as Northeast Wisconsin.
Costumed guides lead group tours (10 or more people) of the Mansion and tell about the Grignons, their home, and everyday life on the Wisconsin frontier. Visitors may also browse through the Mansion’s historic apple orchard, and take home a treasure from the Museum Shop.
Today, the Grignon Mansion 
is a proud reminder of our state’s beginnings. Restored to the time period of 1837-62, when Charles lived there, the Mansion is a beautiful link to our heritage.
(Interior Photos by Rick Gneiser.)
Location
The Charles A. Grignon Mansion
1313 Augustine Street
Kaukauna, Wisconsin