Wisconsin's Holyland
Wisconsin’s Holyland is a region located mainly in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, and southern Calumet County, east of the south end of Lake Winnebago.
A region appreciated for its close-knit community life, distinctive agricultural landscape, and German Catholics who came here in the mid-to-late 1800s. Wisconsinites and others near and far have known it as “The Holyland” since at least 1898. The celebrated name for the place where ten tiny communities in the rolling hills of Central Wisconsin still dot the countryside within a 100-square-mile area of the two counties.
Between 1841 and 1870, those communities built eleven grand Catholic Churches throughout the region to form the “original” of the Holyland communities. The rural communities include Calvary, Charlesburg, Jericho, Johnsburg (which, at that time, had two churches), Marytown, Mount Calvary, St. Anna, St. Cloud, St. Joe, and St. Peter.
As time passed, more small communities built churches, expanding the boundaries of the original Holyland to the northwest corner of Sheboygan County and as far south as Holy Hill, where a Blessed Mother Shrine exists.
The people, known throughout the area as Holylanders, who live here are devoted, faithful, and true to their religion, families, and country. They are the honest and hardworking salt of the earth sort of people – resourceful, creative, and entrepreneurial.
Holylanders are dreamers and doers – people who play as hard as they work, enjoy their rich heritage and celebrate the ups and downs of daily life through community, food, and an appreciation for a tasty brew along the way.
