Nature Preserve
Wintergreen
Spring Green, WI
Difficulty: Wintergreen is currently closed. Trails will open in spring 2026!
Preserve Size: 245 acres
Wintergreen Preserve, a 245-acre landmark overlooking the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway in Spring Green, Wisconsin, is now permanently protected thanks to extraordinary community generosity and conservation partnership. With support from individual donors and public partners, Driftless Area Land Conservancy was able to conserve this iconic property, including a 15,000-square-foot Frank Lloyd Wright–inspired event center perched above one of the longest free-flowing river stretches in the Midwest.
Located beside Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin and within the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway, a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance, recognized globally for its ecological value, Wintergreen holds rare ecological, cultural, and community significance. Protection of the property was made possible through a powerful public-private partnership, including the State of Wisconsin’s Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Ducks Unlimited.
Looking ahead, Wintergreen will serve as a gateway to the Driftless Trail and has the potential to become a trailhead, conservation-focused community hub, and year-round destination for education, connection, and low-cost recreation. While not yet open to the public, careful planning is underway, guided by the land and the community whose generosity carried Wintergreen into a future full of possibility.
We invite you to support Wintergreen’s revitalization so the land remains healthy, the building remains a community asset, and Wintergreen continues to connect people to the Driftless.
Explore the Preserve!
Features
- Wintergreen is currently closed. Please subscribe to our newsletter for updates and check back this spring!
Accessibility
- Wintergreen is closed as we work on signage, trails, and safe visitor access. We hope to open the trails in the spring of 2026.
Location & Parking
- Wintergreen is closed as we work on signage, trails, and safe visitor access. We hope to open the trails in the spring of 2026.
Preserve Rules
- Wintergreen is closed as we work on signage, trails, and safe visitor access. We hope to open the trails in the spring of 2026.
History
- For several generations, it was owned by various members of the Sliter family.
- In the early 1950s, half of the property was purchased by Ben Graves, manager of the Taliesin estate, and the other half by Wes Peters, architect of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture and Taliesin Associated Architects.
- They sold the property in the late 1960s to the Wisconsin River Development Corporation, owned by Willard “Bud” Keland, who was married to a member of the Johnson Wax family, which had retained Frank Lloyd Wright to design the Johnson Wax headquarters and Wingspread, their private residence in Racine, WI. Robert Graves was the Property Manager.
- A ski run was constructed and opened in December of 1969, with plans for a five-story mountain-top ski lodge designed by Wes Peters. But only the foundation was built.
- The property was then acquired by Green Growth Realty in 1976, followed by British Land of America in 1982. Robert Graves was the Property Manager for both companies.
- In the late 1980s, Euroactividade, an international development company, pursued the acquisition of the Wintergreen property along with The Springs golf course, which was completed in 1989. Robert Graves was retained as the Property Manager.
- In 1989, Euroactividade retained Taliesin Associated Architects and the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture to design the current Wintergreen Lodge. Charles Montooth, the architect of record, did the second design incorporating the existing foundation. Paul Wagner, a graduate of the school, was the design architect who oversaw the construction of the Wintergreen
Lodge. Numerous FLW School of Architecture students and faculty worked on the building as Rowland Construction was constructing it. - The lodge was opened in 1990, but the ski hill ceased operations in 1991. Inconsistent winter weather and high insurance costs contributed to the closing.
- In the years that followed, various groups tried to revive the ski hill but were unsuccessful, and the lifts were dismantled.
- Euroactividade, because of financial difficulties, unloaded the property in 1992 to Clyde Engle, a Chicago businessman who folded the property into Coronet Insurance, a holding company.
- A few years later, the Illinois Insurance Commission seized control of the property and sold it in the early 2000s to Arthur Donaldson, owner of the House on the Rock.
- In 2021 the property was acquired by Shifflet Prop LLC.
Explore Our Other Nature Preserves
Argyle, WI
Mineral Point, WI
Belleville, WI
Dodgeville, WI
Highland, WI
Volunteer with Us!
Join us for monthly workdays to steward our beautiful nature preserves and trail systems. New volunteers are always welcome – no experience necessary!
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