SW Wisconsin Cheese Factory Road Trip

Scenic Road Trip Mineral Point, Cuba City, Shullsburg

Here’s an opportunity to enjoy a stress-free scenic drive through rural SW Wisconsin to visit two interesting historic towns . . . And as a bonus be able to taste and buy award-winning Wisconsin Cheese direct from the factory outlets.

Southwest Wisconsin is part of Wisconsin’s unique driftless area topography. The landscape features broad open hilltops, flat fertile river valleys, and steep wooded slopes. Numerous creeks and the mixture of steep woods and rolling grass lands lends itself to dairy operations including creameries and cheese factories. Swiss immigrants to the area brought their cheese making craft with them and made the area a locus of world championship cheese.

Woods, rolling fields, neatly cared for farmsteads, winding roads, and rural landscape make for scenic and stress free drives populated by attractive villages that have retained their small town character.



Mineral Point, Wisconsin

Mineral Point is a historic town with deep roots in Wisconsin history as one of the earliest settlements as a mining hub and as the center of the first Wisconsin Territorial government. As far back as 1935 civic groups began a preservation effort to restore and maintain its historic stone buildings. This preservation movement remains active today with a large treasure trove of historic register buildings, including those maintained by the Pendarvis Historic Site  and Shake Rag Alley (shown below).

Shake Rag Alley
Taking a walk through the gardens and “village” of Shake Rag Alley
Hooks Cheese Company Mineral Point
Hooks Cheese Factory Mineral Point

We had hoped to catch the Hooks Cheese Factory store open on a Saturday but it was closed. They carry over 50 kinds of cheese but are perhaps most well known for their super-aged Cheddar (aged up to 20 years).

RV travelers looking for a campsite near Mineral Point. There are RV hookups at the Iowa County Fairgrounds available on a first-come, first-served basis when there is not a Fair or an event at the fairgrounds.

See our article and more photos on Interesting places in Historic Mineral Point.


Leaving Mineral Point, on the way to Historic Shullsburg, you’ll go through Cuba City which is home to the Factory Outlet Store of Gile Cheese.

Directions to Cuba City. From Mineral Point travel South on US Highway 151. In 19 miles you’ll intersect with Wisconsin Highway 80 near Platteville, Wisconsin. Exit South on Highway 80 to Cuba City.

Cuba City, Wisconsin

Cuba City bills itself as the “City of Presidents.” Lining Main Street and downtown are 44 shields containing each president’s name, silhouette, and term in office.

Cuba City is also home to Carr Cheese Factory and the Gile Cheese Store, located on the east side of Main Street as you approach downtown. While the cheese store is the factory outlet for Carr cheese, it also offers a huge variety of private label cheeses from other local cheese producers in southwest Wisconsin. For the cheese aficionado, you can find some many years-old aged chedder, swiss, and other varieties of aged cheese.There are also a large selection of other artisanal food products like sauces, condiments, flavorings, maple syrups, etc.

If you like cheese, be sure to stop in at Gile Cheese Store when you go through Cuba City.

Directions to Shullsburg, Wisconsin. From Cuba City, go South on highway 80 to the junction with State Highway 11. Then head East through the communities of Benton and Lead Mine to Shullsburg, Wisconsin.

Visiting Shullsburg, Wisconsin 

Like Mineral Point, this is another town with an exceptional historic preservation ethic. It is easy to imagine you’ve stepped back in time a hundred years or more with a walk down Water Street. 

Shullsburg, Wisconsin
Downtown historic Shullsberg

Lots of interesting little shops and some great places to eat and drink, like the Brewster House Restaurant (1855) that also shares space with the 75 year old Shullsburg Creamery Cheese Store. Like the Gile Cheese Store there was an impressive variety of local cheeses available, including those from the Shullsburg Creamery, which is next door. Shullsburg seems to offer more variety in cheese spreads and like the Gile Cheese store offered a number of other artisan foods and craft beer from local breweries. They also feature a large number of gift boxes.

In addition to award winning cheese, the Shullsberg Creamery Factory Store
offers all sorts of artisanal Wisconsin food and unique gifts

See our article and photos on things to see and do in Shullsburg.


Monroe – Wisconsin’s Cheese Capital

Continuing East on Highway 11 for 34 miles will bring you to Cheese Capital of Wisconsin:Monroe. But on the way only a few miles East of Shullsburg, you’ll have another opportunity to sample the cheese of the Roelli Cheese Haus. The factory and its outlet store are located at the junction of Highway 11 and 23. The store has, in addition to their own cheese, a similar assortment of locally produced cheeses and other artisanal foods and gift boxes that we found at Shullsburg and Cuba City factory cheese stores.

Roelli Cheese Factory
Roelli Cheese Factory Dairy Truck
Roelli Cheese Factory Store

RVer Note: If you are looking for an RV Campsite, there’s a terrific little park a few miles further down Highway 11 in Gratiot, Wisconsin. Check out Wolf Creek Campground

Nice level sites with water and electricity and a modern shower and washroom building.
Nice level RV and camping sites with water and electricity and a modern shower and washroom building

See Next Article: Monroe and New Glarus

You’ll score a two-fer on the next two stops on this scenic road trip: Cheese Factories and Breweries. Monroe is Wisconsin’s Cheese Capital and home to one of Wisconsin’s oldest breweries. New Glarus is known as Wisconsin’s Little Switzerland and also New Glarus Brewery, Wisconsin’s most famous craft brewery. Both of these villages have some quaint shops, friendly pubs, decent restaurants, and other attractions in addition to their cheese stores and selection of beer fresh from the brewery.

Cheese Country Travel Map & Article Directory

Driftless Area Scenic Drive Map with notes on cheese factories, golf courses, RV camping, and other attractions.
Article Directory & Map Cheese Country Scenic Drives with notes on cheese factories, golf courses, RV camping, and interesting towns and other attractions.