Landmarks/Historic Sites

Cheeseville is a crossroads hamlet named for the 1881 Cheeseville Dairy. Cheeseville School was the first school in the county to have indoor plumbing. The present school building is the third Cheeseville School, built of brick in 1912. It is now a private home. Across from the school is the beautiful 1862 fieldstone farmhouse.

The Turn Verein (Turners) Society, a German athletic and intellectual group, was organized in 1862 and built the Hall in 1867. It became the cultural center for the Saxony immigrants. There were plays and concerts by the local brass band and singing groups, and it became an important part of Fillmore's early social life. The Fillmore Turner Society was officially organized in 1930 and today manages the grounds which are used for weddings, parties, and baseball.

Early settlers Harlow Bolton, Asa Varney and William H. Willis took advantage of the energy of water and built a grist mill in 1854. A dam was built several hundred yards upstream to form a pond. The Mill's huge grinding wheels were powered by running water through a narrow channel which the miller controlled by opening and closing gates as needed. The Mill was the first structure built in the village of Boltonville, followed by the saltbox homes that the Yankee immigrants built.

Reliance Roller Mills operated for decades. Ben Wierman took over in 1914, calling it the Boltonville Mill. The Mill was sold to Random Lake Co-op in 1956. It is still in operation today as Tom's Old Country Mill. The Boltonville Mill is a Washington County Landmark.

The Independent Order of Oddfellows Lodge 96 was originally organized in Barton in 1870. In 1888, they built a meeting hall of their own in Boltonville. By 1900, the group disbanded and sold the building to Modern Woodman Sunrise Camp 2256 for $800. This front-gabled Italianate building was constructed of locally-made brick.

In 1872, Yankee settlers organized the Free Will Baptist Society of Boltonville and built this church which was dedicated in 1873. In the 1880s, the building was home to a Sunday school for as many as 80 students and a church group named “Ladies of Boltonville.” It was also the location of the Literary Society of Boltonville, which maintained the first public library in the community, as well as the meeting place of the local temperance group. The church later became St. John's United Church of Christ. It is now a private residence. This former church is a Washington County Landmark.

This crossroads hamlet was the home of the Wescotts, the first family who settled the area. It is the site of the first County cheese factory, built in 1871. The cemetery is the historic first community cemetery with graves of some of the earliest settlers, some born in the 18th century. The brick schoolhouse is a private home today. Orchard Grove is the childhood home of author Glenway Wescott.