The old schoolhouse desks are replaced by modern, comfortable furniture in the restored Wilson Schoolhouse. Where students once studied, you can now relax in comfort surrounded by Wisconsin hills, just a mile from the beautiful upper Mississippi River. The Wilson school was built in 1917 and functioned as a one-room school until 1965. It was recently restored and elegantly furnished to retain the "open" atmosphere of the original schoolhouse. It still maintains much of its original character and charm with the original slate blackboard and school desks. The schoolhouse is listed on the City of La Crosse, the State of Wisconsin, and National Register of Historic Buildings. It is located in a rural setting on 12 acres of woods, fields, and gardens only 8 minutes from historic downtown La Crosse. Rental includes the entire schoolhouse and will comfortably accommodate 2 to 8 adults during their stay in La Crosse, WI.
This must have been our 4th or 5th stay at the Schoolhouse. It is such a great place. The best part is the huge open room upstairs where you can hang out and cook with family and friends.
Everything is very comfortable and homelike. The Kitchen has all the pots and pans, cooking utensils, plates, glasses, cups, and silverware needed.
They also have spices, sugar, coffees, teas, oatmeals, snack bars, orange juice, and peppermint paddies in stick. 😄
Anyways, we loved staying there this time over Halloween vacation and will certainly return again soon.
We also recommend hiking the new trails on granddads bluff. The autumn colors were beautiful. 😍
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Date of stay: November 2021Trip type: Traveled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
It was a great place to stay during the virus. We made all our meals in the huge kitchen and we were able to have our annual sisters/mother trip despite CoVid.
The owners were extremely accommodating and the caretaker couldn't have been nicer. We will definitely return. It was super close to the Bluff, and the Shrine. We all enjoyed our stay.
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Date of stay: July 2020
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Room Tip:This is a full rental house that used to be a old school course.
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This is our 3rd year at the Wilson Schoolhouse Inn and it never disappoints. Lisbeth & Richard are wonderful hosts. The place is always clean, warm & cozy. Plenty of room to spread out and the Inn has everything we need. Can’t wait to go back!
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Date of stay: November 2020
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Room Tip:Spacious common areas
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For such a cool building with great potential to be a top notch get away, this property sadly falls short. To put it bluntly, the place is very dingey. The building itself is amazing, tall ceilings, open floor plan, etc. I would not suggest it for anyone with any kind of mobility issues as the staircase to the bedrooms is quite steep. It was unclear on the website, that the two bedrooms are located in the basement, which is quite damp and musty (as expected of a basement.)
It feels like someone had a great idea to turn this into an Air BnB, but put no effort into the final product. It was not only dirty and dusty, there were basic amenities missing, like complete sheet sets on the beds and toilets that work correctly. When asked about the sheet situation (no top sheets on any beds) the owner made a joke about how silly we were, the duvets are the top sheets.... Am I missing something? I have a duvet, a duvet cover, and a fitted and flat sheet set on my bed, isn't that standard? Besides, neither of the twin beds even had duvet covers on them, just old blankets and an old quilt. My theory is all of the bedding was donated by friends and family and is all just mismatched hand me downs of threadbare linens. The downstairs bathroom had a toilet seat that moved when you sat on it, everyone knows what I'm talking about, the kind that makes you feel like you're going to fall off when you first sit down because it moves suddenly to the side. Tried to tighten the plastic screw below, but I think it was missing. Then the flusher was tricky, it didn't seem attached tightly enough. the handle finally just fell off so we couldn't flush until we got into the tank to fix it ourselves. Unfortunately there was a plastic nut missing from inside the tank so we just had to leave the tank lid off to flush the toilet. The shower had great temperature and pressure, it was just unfortunate that it pointed sideways just past your head, and was probably a 40 year old shower head that was not adjustable. I suppose the shape and location of the shower necessitated the sprayer direction, but a handheld sprayer would've made it so much better. Overall, it was just a very dusty, dingey, musty place. Even the curtains are hung backwards. The pictures of the outside area on the website are not accurate. The patio table and chairs were about 20 yards from the house and were covered in leaves, and you had to walk across a yard of muddy earth covered with rotting black walnuts, not easily traversed for anyone with mobility issues. The BBQ is a mini Weber. This could be such a fun, cool place to stay and wouldn't take much to make it that way, but I don't think there's been much effort since the initial opening 23 years ago. This is a good reminder that you can't always trust what you see and read in advertising and brochures, up close and personal can be a completely different experience. I think this would be a great place for a large group with a lot of kids, but not so much for people who enjoy their comfort away from home.
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Date of stay: September 2024
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Trip type: Traveled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
The good- Beautiful historic building and a truly unique experience. Huge great room with lovely views of surrounding nature. Quiet, private location and great communication by owners. Perfect for families or larger gatherings. Priced less than many local hotels for this entire space. Well equipped kitchen with many dishes and utensils.
The okay- The bedrooms are down a steep set of wooden stairs not shown in photos. This could be a real problem for anyone with knee or hip problems, or the elderly. Cleanliness could be better as ceiling fans are full of dust, there were dead bugs behind nightstand, and a fingernail clipping on the rug. The thermostat is a bit complicated and kept reverting back to 74 when we would try to set at a lower temp. heat never did come on. It may be set by owners via an app.
Needs improving- This is a beautiful old building from early 1900s so expect the downstairs to smell musty. The queen bedroom had a much stronger musty smell than the two twin bedroom. So much so it needed an air purifier, open window, to make it less strong. There is a large spider plant in the window of that room which I am sure is there to help absorb moisture. Some might be sensitive to the damp musty odor if not used to it.
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Date of stay: September 2024Trip type: Traveled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
The owners did a fabulous job of refurbishing the old brick schoolhouse into a comfortable, beautiful inn. Modern conveniences with the original charm. I'd highly recommend this for a womens' weekend getaway.
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Date of stay: October 2011
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Trip type: Traveled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We loved this place! It was very quaint but with all the modern convienieces. Beautiful kitchen, lovely seating area, and comfortable sleeping areas. We made our own breakfasts in the very well stocked kitchen. The owners were charming!
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Date of stay: April 2012
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Trip type: Traveled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We loved staying there. We were in town for a family party and all the ammenities made it perfect when we had a sitter come and watch the kids. It was a wonderful location for our purposes and we'll stay there again. The snack/food options were nice and I was pleased to be able to cook some simple meals there. The owner was very helpful and great about our funny schedule (different combinations of family members on different nights).
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Date of stay: August 2010
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Trip type: Traveled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We have stayed at the Wilson Schoolhouse 4 of the last 5 years on our visits to LaCrosse. Absolutely fantastic place - quiet, clean, laid back and cool as all get out. I love the charm and history of this place and all of the friends we've brought with us have loved it. I can't say enough good things about Dick and Lisbeth. They are always accommodating and wonderful each and every time. Stay here - you won't be sorry.
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Date of stay: April 2014
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Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
My husband and I were looking for a clean, well-appointed, welcoming place to park ourselves for a few days as we explored the Mississippi Valley near La Crosse. We took a chance by renting, sight unseen, the Wilson Schoolhouse Inn. What a treat! The large main room quietly features all the modern conveniences (beautiful kitchen, DVD, mini-stereo, wi-fi) while allowing the charm and history of the renovated one-room schoolhouse to come through. My favorite part of the Inn was the huge windows looking onto greenery (and possoms, and squirrels and rabbits).
The Inn has a tricky entry off I-14/61, however. We played it safe by driving an extra block east of the driveway and turning around in a subdivision.
That was a small price to pay for a lovely stay. Would we go back? In a heartbeat.
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Date of stay: September 2012Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
There are trails on the property leadinout to long trails in the hills and woods. We are 5 min. From Goose Island park with beautiful trails along the Mississippi River
Hi, Kathy! The Schoolhouse is an inn, rather than a B&B. They have some provisions on hand for the morning - cereal, yogurt, granola bars, juice, coffee, etc. Not a full breakfast. But one of the joys my friends and I have had is to be able to cook breakfast/brunch together and for each other. To be honest, we never (in the 4 or 5 times we stayed there) really even looked at what was available. We were just so thrilled to have the amazing kitchen that allowed us to make wonderful food! It's a full-size kitchen, with full-size frig/freezer, and all the cooking and serving gear you will need. You will enjoy the Schoolhouse, for sure.
Hi
The schoolhouse sleeps 8 maybe 10 , but you also have 4 children. The upstairs living room does have a queen sleeper and a bathroom. There are about four or five very wide steps from the front door to the living room, I am not sure , if you can easily get a wheel chair up the stairs. Please let me know, if you have any other questions. There is a full kitchen and dining room area, and there are two bathrooms and a sitting room
Lisbeth
There are more places to choose from in the La Crosse area.
LOCATION
United StatesWisconsinLa Crosse
NUMBER OF ROOMS
5
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