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While traversing to the Hodag, we traveled down West Veteran's Parkway in Marshfield. There to the left we saw a bronze dragon. To see it better, go to the next light, turn left, then turn left at the next street. Go down two blocks and turn left a gain. You'll see him, and you can park on the dirt. We believe he was donated by the Rotary Club.
[Mike and Debbi Buike, 05/29/2009]Dragon of Liberty:- Address:
- E. 1st St., Marshfield, WI
- Directions:
- Downtown. On the north side of E. 1st St. at its intersection with S. Cherry Ave. The dragon faces north, toward the south side of Hwy 13/E. Veterans Pkwy.
- Admission:
- Free
- RA Rates:
- Worth a Detour
One of the many fantastic attractions en route from Pulaski, WI to Hurley, WI/Ironwood, MI is the giant fiberglass loon statue on the side of Hwy 51.
Pulaski has the largest country church in the world (or so I've been told). There are also Catholic shrines in the country (one north of Pulaski on HWY 29, one south on St. Augustine St.) where people used to go to pray if the church was too far away.
Farther north (on the way to Hurley), you see the Paul Bunyan in Wabeno, the Larry the Logroller statue, (I think there is still a Paul Bunyan and Babe before Rhinelander, in front of a trailer park?), a weird alien looking sculpture in front of a roadside bar just before Rhinelander, the hodag cut out signs in Rhinelander, the giant loon in Mercer, the Hiawatha statue in Ironwood.
[Monica, 04/21/2002]World's Largest Talking Loon:RoadsideAmerica.com Team Field Report
- Address:
- 5150 N. Hwy 51, Mercer, WI
- Directions:
- On US 51 in town, north side of the road, in front of the Chamber of Commerce.
- Phone:
- 715-476-2389
- Admission:
- Free
- RA Rates:
- Worth a Detour
- Monico, Wisconsin - Rhinelapus: Tree Root Monster Rival to The Hodag
A very large, twisted, and scary-looking tree trunk was found near Monico Creek in the early 1940s. Guy Dailey named it "Rhinelapus" because he thought that it resembled a rhinoceros, elephant, and octopus. He then had it cut down and dragged to his Lake Venus Tavern, where it sat, sheltered by a shed roof, for over 60 years. At some point it was painted yellow, then green, to preserve the wood, and renamed "The Green Monster." An eye and a horn were highlighted for the less imaginative. Guy Dailey died in 2002, and in 2005 the Rhinelapus -- by now a much-beloved civic symbol -- was moved to an open-air shelter in Monico Community Park. The Rhinelapus is also a bit of nose-thumbing by Monico at its neighboring city of Rhinelander, whose citizens loudly promote their "Hodag" monster.
[Roadsideamerica.com Team, 10/31/2005]Rhinelapus: Tree Root Monster Rival to The Hodag:- Address:
- US Hwy 8, Monico, WI
- Directions:
- Jct of US 8 and 45. Beneath an open-air shelter in Monico Community Park.
Elusive, vicious creature -- a lumber town makes hay with a beloved local monster.
Roadsideamerica.com Report...
Logging Museum
- Address:
- 450 W Kemp St., Rhinelander, WI
- Directions:
- In the Logging Museum. South end of town. Corner of Kemp St. (Business US 8) and Oneida Ave.
- Phone:
- 715-369-5004
- RA Rates:
- Major Fun
Rhinelander, "Home of the Hodag," exhibits several mounted versions of the creature.
[Craig Grondfeldt, 08/03/2021]
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The "Dragon of Liberty" was created by Clyde Wynia, owner of nearby Jurustic Park, in 2009.