Things to Do in Grafton: Blues, Gorge & River

The best place to start a day in Grafton is a stretch of downtown sidewalk laid out like a piano keyboard. This small Ozaukee County town on the Milwaukee River was once home to Paramount Records, the label that recorded some of the most important blues and jazz of the 1920s, and that history is the thread that makes the rest of the things to do in Grafton hang together. Add a Lake Michigan gorge, riverfront parks, a historic mill full of working artists, a downtown of taverns and shops, and a genuine craft-beer scene, and a day here fills up quickly. Here is how to spend it, whether you have a few hours or a full weekend.

What is Grafton famous for? The Paramount Records story

Between 1917 and 1932, Paramount Records pressed records beside the Milwaukee River in Grafton, and artists like Charley Patton, Son House and Blind Blake recorded here. The label began almost by accident, as a sideline of a Wisconsin chair company that wanted to sell phonograph cabinets, and it became one of the most important recorders of early Black American music in the country. The recordings were nearly lost, then rediscovered decades later as some of the most influential early blues ever captured. The town marks it downtown with Paramount Plaza, where black-granite piano keys set into the walk honour the musicians who recorded here, and even the local brewery nods to it with Sahale's Paramount Stout. It is the one thing about Grafton no other town can claim, and the full Paramount Records story and what to see today is worth reading before you go.

The outdoors: a Lake Michigan gorge and a river

Grafton's best-known attraction sits a few minutes east on Lake Michigan. Lion's Den Gorge is a 73-acre Ozaukee County preserve where a main loop of a little over two miles runs through cedar forest to a wooden staircase down the bluff to a stony beach. It is easy walking, free, with no vehicle sticker, and open sunrise to sunset in every season; the water is startlingly clear on a calm day, and there are wetland boardwalks and a salmon-spawning stream along the way. It is worth a visit in its own right, and the bluff trails and the staircase down to the beach reward an unhurried morning. Closer to downtown, Lime Kiln Park follows the Milwaukee River past the stone remains of the old lime kilns that gave it its name, an easy stroll with pavilions and picnic spots. Pleasant Valley Nature Park adds quieter trails, groomed for snowshoeing in winter, and Muttland Meadows gives the dog room to run.

Between them, the gorge and the river make a full morning outdoors, with more trails, the dog park, and the paved Interurban Trail through the riverfront parks waiting when you want them.

Eat and drink

Grafton punches above its weight for food. There are riverfront taverns doing a Friday fish fry, a couple of destination restaurants, Thai and Indian and Chinese kitchens, and a real craft-beer scene led by Sahale Ale Works, whose Paramount Stout ties back to the record label. A good first move is dinner downtown and a pint afterward, or a brewpub meal on the water at Water Street. The town's where to eat, from fish fry to Thai sit a short walk apart downtown.

The craft breweries and taprooms are close by too, and mornings start well at one of the town's coffee roasteries, one of them inside the historic Arts Mill.

Shopping and the Arts Mill

Downtown Grafton keeps a handful of genuinely local shops. The anchor is the Arts Mill, set in the historic Grafton flour mill built in 1846 on the river and now on the National Register of Historic Places; inside, more than a dozen artist studios ring a central gallery and boutique of local and regional work, with a coffee roastery in the same building. Book and Cranny is a newer independent bookshop with new and used titles and author events, and Antiques at Gordons is one of the largest antique shops in the area. The Grafton Collective Marketplace gathers more local makers under one roof, part of a downtown's worth of independent shops, antiques and boutiques.

With kids

Grafton is easy with children. The Spot is an indoor family play studio for younger kids, good on a cold or rainy day. In summer, the Grafton Family Aquatic Center is the town pool, with a zero-depth entry for little ones, and there is a free splash pad at River Bend Park. Muttland Meadows gives the dog a place to run, and Lion's Den is very doable with kids, since the trails are short and the beach is the reward at the bottom of the stairs. There is a full guide to planning a family day around the pool and the playgrounds if you are travelling as a family.

Seasonal events

The calendar picks up in the warmer months and again at the holidays. The farmers market runs through the summer, live music fills the taprooms and patios, and the Grafton Christmas parade is the big winter draw downtown. The best days to visit often line up with an event, so it is worth checking what is on before you come, along with what each season is like and the best time to visit when you plan.

A day trip next door

Historic Cedarburg sits under four kilometres northwest, with Wisconsin's last covered bridge, a winery in an old woolen mill, and a downtown full of shops and festivals. It makes an easy half-day from Grafton, and the paved Interurban Trail connects the two towns directly, which is why a day combining Grafton and Cedarburg works so well.