29. October 2026
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Places & Sights

Visiting Rhinelander (Wisconsin – Pictured Story)

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

The first major highlight of my The Last Bigger & Weirder Dance trip in October 2026 was a city in Northern Wisconsin. Rhinelander has been a very interesting place to me due to linguistic reasons. The area where I live in Germany is called the Rheinland, named after River Rhine/Rhein and land in a meaning of area or region rather than country or state. The people in my area are even called Rheinländer in German, which obviously feels to be related to that place. I was absolutely curious how this town is looking alike and thus had to have a visit. Here is my Pictured Story with impressions and some background.

 

Rhinelander, Wisconsin – Location & Transport

Rhinelander is a some 8,000 people city in Wisconsin. It takes the role of a central place for the area, coming with all kinds of stores and services. If you want to visit it from Europe, you like end up at Chicago O’Hare Airport (ORD) and have a some 300 miles / 5 hour drive (without congestion) trip North. In fact, the closest major international airport is Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP), which is some four hours / 240 miles away. Especially in summer and fall, Rhinelander is a rather popular vacation destination. Later in the year, you can do winter sports there as well.

If you don’t want to travel to the city by car, the only alternative is flying. I had a flight to and from Rhinelander – Oneida County Airport (RHI), which is having connections to Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) all year, and summer connections to Chicago (ORD). There are also coach services from cities like Milwaukee, which will take quite a bit of time though. Rhinelander does have a rail station, the connection to Chicago was suspended in the 1970’s, though.

 

Views of Rhinelander, Wisconsin

Especially in the October scenery, I really loved Rhinelander and the area around. There are several lakes and a lot of forest around, which leads to a lovely scenery. The name of the city does not directly derive from my home region, but comes from Frederic William Rhinelander (1828-1904), who has been a railroad entrepreneur and the 3rd President of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. His great-great-grandfather is a German-born Huguenot, who immigrated to the United States in the 17th century.

You cannot visit Rhinelander without running into the Hodag. The folkloric creature is said to stalk the woods around Rhinelander. There are numerous statues of the Hodag, the most famous being located in front of the Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center West of town. I had a quite interesting conversation there, where the staff explained that they surprisingly were not aware of the linguistic link to Germany. Thus, it is not that surprisingly that I was the only German who had signed the current version of their guest book. Nonetheless, there is a Rheinlander Oktoberfest. A key annual event in town is also the well-reputed Hodag Country Festival.

Downtown

The town has its roots in the 19th century, when it was originally named Pelican Rapids. Rhinelander Downtown is absolutely worth a walk, it comes with a couple of really lovely historic buildings and some interesting shops. Unfortunately, two of the key museums have very limited opening times out of summer season so that I could not visit them.

 

One of the most striking buildings of the city is the impressing Oneida Courthouse, which also hosts other county facilities like the treasury. Next to it, there is a Veterans Memorial. Another key place to visit is the historic city hall, which is closer to the the historic shopping district. I absolutely loved hanging out there, people were very open-minded and friendly. I will definitely come back one day and have a more detailed view into town.

 

Pictured Stories (USA)

Here are all my Pictured Stories related to the USA:

 

Songs of the Week 2026

Here are all my Songs of the Week postings published in 2026:

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