Ozaukee County's open-air museum of 24 buildings from the 1840s and 1850s, with 2026 prices, opening hours and the event days worth timing a visit around.
A log house from 1850, a half-timbered farmhouse moved in from Dodge County and a railroad depot that once stood in Cedarburg share one field off County Highway I, north of Saukville. This is Ozaukee County Pioneer Village, or Pioneer Village Saukville for short, an open-air museum where the county historical society has gathered 24 historic buildings. It sits about 5.4 miles north of the village, on land within Hawthorne Hills County Park.
What you see at Pioneer Village
Pioneer Village is a walk-through settlement of homes and workshops, most of them built in the 1840s and 1850s and moved here from around the region.
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Around them stand blacksmith and carpenter shops, barns, smokehouses and the former homes of Irish and Luxembourger immigrants. The Cedarburg Railroad Depot was moved here too, as the Washington House Inn's history notes describe. The historical society's own photos show a caboose on the grounds.
Each structure reflects a building style brought by a different immigrant group, so a short loop on the gravel paths takes you from German half-timbering to log construction to a railroad depot.
How the village came together
The Ozaukee County Historical Society assembled Pioneer Village between 1961 and 1963. SAH Archipedia writes that it followed the outdoor-museum model of Sweden's Nordiska Museet and Henry Ford's Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan.
The Ahner House started it: the society rescued the log house in 1961, and its own history page names it as the first structure moved to the site. The land is part of Hawthorne Hills County Park, which the society says the county designated in 1962. SAH Archipedia calls the result a romanticized setting, with relocated buildings standing in for village life. That entry comes from Buildings of Wisconsin, the 2017 University of Virginia Press survey by Marsha Weisiger and contributors, which covers the village on pages 262 and 263.
When it is open and what it costs
Pioneer Village opens on weekends in the warmer months, and the society's site gives the season as mid-May through October. Its Pioneer Village page lists Saturday and Sunday hours of noon to 5 p.m.; confirm this year's dates and hours with the society before you plan a trip around them.
On the 2026 event days, admission was $8 for adults and $6 for students and seniors 65 and over. Children under 5 got in free, and so did members of the Ozaukee County Historical Society. The society also offers group rates on request and runs school tours.
For questions, the society's phone number is 262-377-4510, and its Pioneer Village page has a contact form for inquiries about the village or about renting it for an event.
Event days
Pioneer Village also runs special event days with demonstrators on the grounds. In 2026 the calendar included a summer blacksmithing day, a Planes, Trains and Automobiles show in September and the annual Autumn at the Village in October.
The blacksmithing day shows what these days are like. The society teamed up with the Upper Midwest Blacksmithing Association and Storm Cloak Forge, and the day was billed with about eight blacksmiths at portable forges and the village's own blacksmith shop, with forged pieces for sale. The listing promised sign-ups to make an item to take home, food and drinks in the Pioneer Village Hall, and a bluegrass jam through the afternoon on the platform of the old Cedarburg train station.
Event days can run on longer hours than regular weekends, from 9 or 10 a.m. into the afternoon, so check the listing for each one.
Make a day of it
Two of Saukville's outdoor stops are within 3 miles of Pioneer Village.
Tendick Nature Park is about 2.8 miles southeast on County Highway O, and Tendick's 18-hole disc golf course plays to par 56.
Next to Tendick, a wheelchair-accessible path at Blue Heron Wildlife Sanctuary leads to a deck on Turtle Pond; check current accessibility with the sanctuary before you go.
For lunch, the village is about 5.4 miles south, where a fish fry or a smash burger waits on Green Bay Avenue.
The Cedarburg Bog and the downtown walking tour round out the things to do in Saukville.
Bringing kids
Our listing says visitors can step inside the buildings and ring the bell at the one-room schoolhouse. Children under 5 get in free, and students pay $6, going by the 2026 event prices.
The society runs school tours, and group visits can be arranged through the society. The 2026 blacksmithing day offered sign-ups to make an item at a forge and take it home, so event days give older kids something hands-on to do.
More Ozaukee history nearby
Pioneer Village covers the farm and settler side of the county's past; a few other stops fill in the rest.
In Saukville itself, the Payne Hotel, opened by William Payne as a stagecoach inn in 1848 on the Milwaukee to Green Bay route, still stands, Wikipedia says, and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Wikipedia also notes the Crossroads Museum, in a restored 1912 firehouse. The village's community page points to a historic walking tour of 31 buildings and sites.
In Port Washington, about 7 miles southeast of Pioneer Village, the Port Washington Light Station is a restored 19th-century lighthouse with docent-led tours and maritime exhibits.
Practical notes
Pioneer Village is at 4880 County Highway I in Saukville. Visitors walk between the buildings on gravel paths, as the Washington House Inn describes, so wear sturdy shoes.
It is an outdoor museum, so the day you pick matters: Saukville weather in May and October averages highs of 64 and 58 degrees, by the 1991 to 2020 normals. Bring a layer for the shoulder months.
Frequently asked questions
Published October 5, 2026
