An 1850s plank-road stagecoach inn in Greenbush, now a Wisconsin state historic site museum where tour guides have reported unexplained gentle pushes and rustling sounds in upstairs rooms for decades.
W7824 Center Street, Greenbush, WI 53026
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Admission fee charged for museum tours; see Wisconsin Historical Society website for current rates.
Access
Limited Access
Historic 19th-century building with stairs; some areas of the grounds are paved, others grass. Not fully wheelchair accessible.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1851 · Wisconsin State Historic Site · National Register of Historic Places · Plank-Road Stagecoach Inn · Wisconsin Historical Society · Mid-19th Century Wisconsin Travel History
Sylvanus Wade arrived in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin in the early 1850s and constructed an inn along the Green Bay to Fond du Lac plank road in the Greenbush area. The plank roads of this era were private-enterprise toll roads built of sawn lumber laid across earthen roadbeds, intended to speed travel and commerce through the forested interior of Wisconsin. Stagecoach inns along these routes served as overnight stops, meal stations, and social gathering points for travelers, settlers, and mail carriers.
Wikipedia's entry on the Sylvanus Wade House confirms the building's construction in the early 1850s, its function as a stagecoach inn, and its current status as a Wisconsin state historic site. The property is now managed by the Wisconsin Historical Society, which operates it as a period-restored museum site. The complex includes the main inn building, a carriage house, and the Wesley Jung Carriage Museum, which exhibits a collection of 19th-century horse-drawn vehicles related to the inn's era of operation.
The house is one of the better-preserved examples of mid-19th-century Wisconsin inn architecture and serves as an educational resource for the plank-road era of Wisconsin history. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places, recognizing its architectural and historical significance as a surviving vernacular inn of the Wisconsin frontier period.
Sources
The paranormal accounts attached to the Sylvanus Wade House come primarily from the people who work the building most often — museum tour guides who have logged extended time in its interior over years of employment. Wisconsin Haunted Houses documented staff accounts describing a sensation of being gently pushed from behind in areas of the house with no one standing near, and rustling sounds originating from the upstairs bedrooms when those rooms contained no visitors or staff.
The consistency of these reports over time — multiple guides noting the same locations and same types of sensation — is what distinguishes the Wade House from sites that generate a single dramatic claim. The phenomena are notably mild in character; no one reports anything threatening, and the standard description in regional accounts is 'gently haunted,' a phrase that aligns with the scale and temperature of the activity.
No deaths or traumatic incidents have been documented in connection with the Wade House during its operational period. The inn served travelers along one of Wisconsin's early plank roads, and Sylvanus Wade himself is documented only as the builder and operator. The haunted reputation, such as it is, appears to derive entirely from the accumulated experience of guides rather than from any anchor event.
Guided tours of the Sylvanus Wade House cover the building's history as an 1850s plank-road stagecoach inn, its role in mid-19th-century Wisconsin travel, and the restored interiors. Tour guides who have worked the site for extended periods have mentioned unexplained tactile sensations and sounds in upstairs areas. See the Wisconsin Historical Society website for current tour hours and admission.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Appleton, WI
Built in 1882 for Henry James Rogers, the Hearthstone became world-famous on September 30, 1882, when it became the first private residence anywhere to be lit by a central hydroelectric power station using Thomas Edison's system. The mansion later passed to the Priest family.
Wausau, WI
The Yawkey House was built in 1900 for lumber baron Cyrus C. Yawkey in the Classical Revival style. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and operated today by the Marathon County Historical Society as a house museum.
Frederick, MD
Schifferstadt is one of the oldest surviving houses in Frederick, completed in 1758 by Elias Brunner and his wife Albertina on the family's 303-acre farm tract. The Brunners named the property after their hometown in the German Palatinate. The Frederick County Landmarks Foundation purchased the house in 1974 and opened it as an architectural museum.