The Ringling House Bed and Breakfast is located in Baraboo, Wisconsin. There are a total of six rooms available for guest reservation, each with a unique name and style. Every room is on the second floor of the establishment, and all have en suite bathrooms. Breakfast is offered each morning between 8:00 and 10:00 AM in four courses and is served in the dining room or front porch, weather permitting. On the lower level, guests can access the music room, library, and parlor. The inn is decorated with pictures and antiques from both the Charles and Henry Ringling families, who both owned the home separately and were each co-owners of the Ringling Brothers Circus, Charles being one of the founding members. To learn more about the history of the house and the Ringling Brothers Circus, guests can schedule a tour of the home free of charge or visit the Circus World Museum in Baraboo. Julie, the owner of the house, says she hopes guests feel “transported in time” during their stay.
Found in the town of Baraboo, Wisconsin, is the Ringling House Bed and Breakfast. The property encompasses nearly two acres of land, with the inn being situated to one side with a yard and gardens on the other. From the road, one can see three large elephant statues that are positioned in the yard. Flower gardens can also be found next to the house in the side yard. The building itself was built in 1901 in a "Georgian Revival style," according to the owner, and is yellow in color with white accents. The porch leading to the front door has chairs and tables, should guests wish to enjoy it.
Inside the bed and breakfast, Julie, one of the owners of the property, says that they have “tried to make it as if [guests] were traveling back in time during their stay, but with all of the modern conveniences." There are a total of six rooms available for guest reservation, each with a unique style, named after a couple in the Ringling's immediate family or circus family. Each room is located on the second floor of the inn, and each offers en suite bathrooms with toiletries provided. Smart TVs are another amenity that each of the six rooms offers. Additionally, every room has a sitting area that guests can utilize. According to Julie, the most popular rooms people will stay in are the Charles and Edith Room, which has a king-size canopy bed and an original fireplace with an electric insert. Another favorite is the Ella and Fred Room, with its queen-size bed. However, Julie’s favorite bathroom is in the Emmett and Eva Room.
In addition to the guest rooms, there are some other parts of the house that patrons have access to over the course of their stay. These include the dining room, the parlor, the music room, and the library. Throughout these rooms and the inn, there are many different pictures and antiques that hearken back to the Ringling’s ownership of the building and their circus, including Henry’s original grand piano in the music room. According to Julie, all of the woodwork in the house is original to how the Ringlings left it. For those interested in learning more about the history of the property, tours can be scheduled to explore the house and learn about the Ringling Brothers that are offered free of charge to overnight guests staying on the premises. If visitors to the area wish to tour the home without staying at the bed and breakfast, tours can be scheduled, which includes a large amount of the Ringling Brothers background and history. Tours are $12.00 for adults, $10.00 for seniors and young adults. Children under 10 are free.
A four-course breakfast is offered each morning at the Ringling House Bed and Breakfast between 8:00 and 10:00 AM in the dining room. Guests can pick a time within that range to be served their breakfast, which consists of baked goods, fresh fruit, yogurt, and the main course, supplemented with their choice of either coffee, tea, or juice to drink. Some of the offerings for the baked good in the past have been scones, banana bread, and zucchini bread. The entrées range from sweet lemon ricotta pancakes, French toast, and waffles to savory breakfast flatbread with scrambled eggs and cheese, sweet potato hash, and Florentine eggs. For those with dietary restrictions or allergies, accommodations can be made for alternative breakfast dishes.
There have been a number of different events hosted at the Ringling House Bed and Breakfast, ranging from business meetings inside of the building to weddings and rehearsal dinners in the sideyard. Julie, one of the bed and breakfast owners, says that for some of these events, they have set up tents to provide additional protection from the elements. During the wintertime, the inn hosts murder mysteries and special Christmas tours of the building that are open to the public. With that being said, the property operates as a bed and breakfast year-round, with the busiest lodging season, according to Julie, occurring from June through August.
Julie says that she hopes guests feel “transported in time and kind of feel like they are staying in Charles Ringling’s house.” In order to help visitors feel this way, tours are offered by appointment to patrons for a small fee to educate them on the history of the home and the Ringling family that lived here. Many guests who have stayed there in the past have mentioned that the history of the house was a positive aspect of their stay. Said one guest, “Our room and bathroom were large and nicely decorated. We enjoyed the sprawling front porch and reading in the 1900s-era library. The hosts were very friendly and gave us a tour after the delicious breakfast.”
There are a number of attractions near the property that guests can participate in. Many of these activities in Baraboo are within walking distance of the inn. For those interested in the history of the Ringling House Bed and Breakfast, the Circus World Museum in Baraboo provides additional information and insight regarding the Ringling Brothers Circus and circus performance in general. Baraboo is also home to a variety of restaurants that people can eat at during their stay. Some of these restaurants that Julie recommends include the Driftless Glen Distillery, Tumbled Rock Brewery & Kitchen, and the Little Village Café, which all specialize in American cuisine. Other wineries and breweries include the Al Ringling Brewery, brother to Charles and Henry, Balanced Rock Winery, and Von Klaus Winery. Throughout the city, there are also a number of parks that people can visit, such as Ochsner Park & Zoo and Baraboo’s Riverwalk, both of which are located along the Baraboo River. Further outside of town, Julie says that one of the most popular attractions that guests of the inn will visit is Devils Lake State Park, where there are various hiking and biking trails as well as lake access for water-based activities.
The original owner of the building that is now the Ringling House Bed and Breakfast was Charles Ringling, one of the brothers who helped found the Ringling Brothers Circus. The Ringling brothers started their circus in Baraboo alongside Yankee Robinson in 1884. All of the brothers each had an act that they performed for attendees, ranging from tightrope walking to clown performances to musical acts. By the early 1890s, the brothers were successful enough to take their circus to other cities throughout the country by train. After this success, four of the Ringling brothers purchased land in Baraboo, with the intention of building a house. Finished in 1901, Charles lived in this house for 12 years until he moved to be closer to his son, who was in college at Northwestern University. The property was sold to Charles’ brother Henry, whose family owned the house until 2015 when they sold it to Julie and Stuart, the current owners of the property.
Before starting the bed and breakfast, Julie was a computer programmer by profession living with Stuart in Madison, Wisconsin. Both Stuart and Julie wanted to be active in their upcoming retirement, so they decided to take an aspiring innkeepers class to learn more about running a bed and breakfast. Julie and Stuart discovered that, in Julie’s words, their “skills complemented each other well,” with Stuart’s ability to update & fix household rooms, and handle finance and Julie’s skills in cooking and planning events. They started searching for a property with an interesting history that they could run as a bed and breakfast and found the Ringling House, which matched their criteria.
Since purchasing the property, there have been some updates and renovations made to the building. A private bathroom was added to each suite, and the entire house was rewired to update the electricity. One of the updates that Julie says guests appreciate was an update to the hot water system that now provides more hot water to each suite faster, through a water recirculating system.. The owners have plans to add a cottage to the property that will serve as additional accommodation for guests who decide to stay with them.
201 8th St
Baraboo, Wisconsin
United States
Georgian Revival
Julie and Stuart
