Escapees March-April 2023

skp stops

An All-Around Great Destination Wisconsin Dells Wisconsin Dells Visitors & Convention Bureau 701 Superior Street, PO Box 390, Wisconsin Dells, WI 53965-0390 800-223-3557 • www.wisdells.com

You can visit his studio. This historic space showcases Bennett’s original photographs, glass plate negative equipment, photography inventions, cameras and equip ment. The studio is the oldest operating business in the Wisconsin Dells. Many believe it is the oldest continu ously operating photography studio in the country. The Dells The fi rst thing you should do is take a Dells tour. There are several ways to experience the Dells, including a boat tour, amphibious vehicles, called DUCKs, jet boats or horse-drawn wagons to explore narrow canyons. I took the Dells Boat Tours’ popular Upper Dells excursion. This section of the river is above the dam in Wisconsin Dells. All along the river are beautiful formations. There are also two shore landings. The fi rst is Witches Gulch. Between narrow, towering rock formations, through a narrow canyon carved by wind and water, a path led us past waterfalls, the gorge and into the woods. The second landing was at Stand Rock, where H. H. Bennett proved his stop-action photography when his son jumped between two high-up sandstone pillars. Back in Wisconsin Dells, there are fun attractions, including Ripley’s Believe It or Not, miniature golf courses, amusement parks, horseback riding, Timber Falls Adventure Park, Wisconsin Deer Park and Circus World in nearby Baraboo, to name a few.

The Wisconsin Dells, grew to be a popular tourist destination in the 1800s, drawing people to its natural beauty, water parks, and other attractions for over a century. T he indoor waterpark was pioneered in Wisconsin Dells. The city offers the largest concentration of outdoor and indoor waterparks, more than any place on the planet, and is known as "The Waterpark Capital of the World!" However; it was H. H. Bennett’s photography that fi rst brought tourists to the area. Sightseers were eager to leave behind the city’s bustle and experience this Wisconsin river’s beauty. Bennett capitalized on this, building a photography studio in 1875. He sold postcards and souvenir portraits to travelers. In the meantime, he continued to be innovative in photography by inventing a stop-action shutter, allowing him to take photographs of instantaneous events. Previ ously, it took several minutes for a camera to take a picture, and any movement caused it to become blurry. After Bennett created the new shutter, he could take clear pictures of moving subjects. The best-known photograph taken by Bennett with this device was an 1886 image of his son Ashley jumping between two rock formations in the Dells.

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ESCAPEES Magazine March/April 2023