Fort Atkinson is named for General Henry Atkinson, who founded the city by building a stockade fort on the site in 1832. On Riverside Drive, you can visit a replica of that stockade. Another early settler and former Governor of Wisconsin, W.D. Hoard, is considered the father of dairy farming in the state. His 1869 mansion now houses a museum and dairy shrine. Today, Fort Atkinson is perhaps best known as the home of the Fireside Restaurant and Playhouse. Each year, the Fireside presents a series of four quality musicals performed by its professional theater company.

Lake Mills, twelve miles north of Fort Atkinson, is a charming Victorian community on the shores of Rock Lake. Nearby, Aztalan State Park is one of the most important archeological sites in the state - a stockaded village of the Middle Mississippian Indian culture.