The Mining & Rollo Jamison Museums — Attraction in Platteville

Very interesting museum complex. We spent four hours there, which included about an hour or more going down into the mid 1800s lead mine on the guided tour.

The tour was very interesting, and the guide explained how the mine included the original lead mine, and how an area of it was was set up to show the differences between the lead mining and zinc mining that was also prevalent in the area. Mannequins depict the miners working in the cramped confines.

The mine tour also included the equipment and building that would have been used above ground to haul the ore up out of the mine, and a small railroad train once used inside the tunnels of a larger mine.

Two large, former school buildings on the same property hold separate displays. One is dedicated to mining in the area and includes ore samples, tools, photos, and dioramas.

The second building holds the collection of. Rollo Jameson, a local man born in 1899 and who died in 1980. He was a lifelong collector of all things old.

His massive collection depicts Wisconsin life in the early 1800s up to the mid 1900s, and includes music machines, player pianos, military related weapons/uniforms/oral interviews, "rooms" of furniture and equipment depicting doctors offices/photography studios/home life/school life/farm life, and much more.

A section also is a replica barn which includes various horse drawn buggies, farm wagons, fuel wagons, harvesting and planting equipment, dairy equipment, and more.

Jameson was a fascinating man who grew up poor with a fourth grade education, but he had a lifelong dream of having his own museum -- he fulfilled that dream in a small local town, and his collection of almost 100,000 items was given for this Plateville museum before his death.

Audio recordings allow you to hear the old music machines, and you can play the player piano and interact with some of the displays.

Between the mine tour and the two museums there is something for...

Great museum! We had 13 family members of which 9 were children, ages 1-13. Everyone enjoyed looking through the Rollo Jamison museum and especially enjoyed all of the interactive activities. A highlight is the interactive player piano! The mine tour was fantastic! It was set up in a way that even my 6 year old could see and understand how it would have been to work down there. The guide, Ashton, was very interactive with our group by asking the kids questions to get them thinking and also by being able to answer everyone's questions. Everyone enjoyed the entire experience. Well worth the price too. Prices are low compared to other experience type activities. Take your family or friends. You'll be...

We arrived for our scheduled tour at 10:30 AM but due to train problems we were told to wait at least an additional 15 minutes. My husband and I found the mine tour very informative and well presented. However, if you are a senior citizen as my husband and I are, beware it is a long walk downstairs to the mine. That wasn't too bad however coming back up all those stairs was really rough. Also, free free to skip the 3 minute train tour around the place. The driver went really fast and we were bumped around pretty bad which is very dangerous if you have any back or hip problems. Except for one other family we were the only ones on the tour. It was a Sunday which may be a...