John Mann came to Madison from New York via Michigan in the late 1840's.  By 1850 he was running a successful livery stable in Madison.  In 1855 he moved out to Fitchburg and built the mansion and stable.  He traded timber from his property for stones from the neighboring quarry.  In 1876 he sold the property to J.C. Latham.   In 1881 Latham sold to J.R. Comstock.  In 1935 Comstock sold to Hal Huddlestone.  In 1948 Huddlestone sold to William Waskow who lived here (raising dogs in an attached kennel and horses in the stable) until the spring of 1979.

At the same time the Mann estate was built, the first and most successful inn in the Fitchburg area was thriving -- Quivey's Grove.  The concurrent development coupled with our own grove of black walnut trees, maples, and elms account for the name Quivey's Grove.

The restaurant and Stable Tap opened May 23, 1980.  Both buildings are now listed in the National Register or Historic Places.  Since opening, the authenticity and quality of the buildings has been matched by the restaurant's food and service.  With your loyal patronage, Quivey's Grove will continue to stand for authentic quality for another 120 years.

The house is an Italianate fieldstone mansion with eighteen inch thick walls and thirteen  foot ceilings.  Excepting the lobby and Grandmother's Garden, the floors are the original unstained hemlock.  The walnut newel post and banister are original.  The kitchen, entrance, and bathrooms are new.  The rooms have all been named and decorated as follows:

Grandmother's Garden Top

The quilt is ca. 1900 with a traditional pattern called "Grandmother's Garden". The cupboard come from Mount Vernon (Dane County) and is distinguished by its block like proportions, chamfered door panels, the three corner pegs in the doors, the simple scalloped base, and the decorative cornice molding.  It dates ca. 1850. There are several late 19th century political cartoons.  In the Presidents' Alcove are framed all the U.S. Presidents through 1855, the year Quivey's Grove was built.

Flower Box Top

The extraordinary hand embroidered appliqued quilt of unique design is ca. 1900. The walnut cupboard has old wavy glass, elaborate apron and ogee curved cornice typical of cupboards made between 1820 and 1860.  Between the windows is a hand colored lithograph from 1846, "Tree of Liberty". Notice that Wisconsin is not yet a state.  To the right of the quilt are eight hand colored engravings. These botanical prints are English 19th Century.  Also on display is antique China, a U.S. map from the early 19th Century and a political cartoon.  The chandelier is an antique gas fixture from the mid-19th Century.

Stairs & Hallway Top

On the first floor wall is a lithograph of Wisconsin Governors from 1844-1878, a Harding & Coolidge campaign poster and an engraving of Congressman Garfield that predates 1880 when on the 36th ballot he became the GOP presidential nominee. Going up the steps is a collection of antiques lithographs and engravings of Madison sites.  Most are hand colored.  Straight ahead is an 1884 campaign poster for Cleveland & Stevenson (a rooster was the symbol of the Democratic Party before the donkey).  Back over the stairs is a Fremont-Shearman campaign poster from 1856 (the year after Quivey's was built). Fremont, the first presidential nominee of the newly formed Republican Party, was beaten by Buchanan.  Over the entrance to the back hall are two beer trays from 1896.  They depict the Presidential candidates, William McKinley (on the right) and William Jennings Bryan (on the left).  The back stairway features six contemporary etchings by Peter Milton which illustrate a short story by Henry James, "The Jolly Corner".

Illustrations by Nancy Lynch

Valentine Room Top

The room was hand stenciled by two local artists.  Their design was based on an 1852 Pennsylvania German cutout valentine. On the walls are "Penny Dreadfuls", popular from 1840 until 1860.  They are the predecessors of modern day valentines, but these were meant to playfully offend.  Please do take time to read the "Penny Dreadfuls". The sconces are hand crafted replicas of gas fixtures typical of the mid-19th Century.  The pine corner cupboard's plainness is relieved by the scalloped base, the tow pegs in the corner of each door, and the fielding in the lower door panels.  All these traits mark it as a piece made in Wisconsin between 1845 and 1870.  There are five 1865 wood engravings related to Lincoln's assassination.  Next to them is an extremely rare 1865 etching of "Lincoln and his Generals". On the other wall are two Lincoln portraits, one a wood engraving from 1860.

Nursery Top

On the walls are illustrations from a 1911 songbook, "Our Old Nursery Rhymes". The artist is H. Willebeck LeMair.  See how many of the rhymes you can identify.

Music Room Top

In the 19th Century, popular entertainment most often meant singing around the piano.  Hence, sheet music developed into both a major industry and a unique are form.  Notice the rare 1852 Stephen Foster Original.  Also, 1852 "Little Eva", a spin-off from the phenomenally successful antislavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. See how many of the songs were published in or about Wisconsin.  Two are to welcome boys home from WWI.  Be sure to read the words to "She Boy Gan", ("the boys are the regular kind") and "Milwaukee". "The Perfect Song" was released in 1915 in conjunction with The Birth of a Nation.

Tunnel Top

Contrary to the prevailing impression, the tunnel was built in 1980 using nearly fifty tons of stone.  The gates before the wine rack are the work of the same Wisconsin blacksmith who fashioned the hanging lantern in Stable Tap.

Illustrations by Nancy Lynch

The entry way and main bar room  were added on to the original 1855 stone stable in 1989.  Virtually all of the building materials were salvaged from other 19th century barns.  Notice the hand-hewn beams, sanded and sealed but not stained.   Behind is a full service kitchen built in 1989.

The stone walls of the original stable are twenty inches thick.  The structural hand-hewn beams on the first floor are original and of carious woods including walnut.   The lights are handcrafted reproductions of early 19th Century Yankee fixtures. The stairs are newly built using salvaged wood and traditional carpentry (notching in the steps).  The railings have been sanded and sealed but not stained.  All of the antique hand-hewn beams on the second floor are new to the building.  The hanging lantern is the work of a Wisconsin blacksmith.  The tables, some of which are constructed out of old wagon wheels, are the work of two Wisconsin woodworkers.  The large U.S. flag is a reproduction of an 1855 flag.  Saddle blankets hang on the upstairs walls.  Above each stairway and elsewhere hang sheet music, ca. 1915 - 1930.

The coatroom, bathrooms and entrance to the tunnel stairway were built in 1980.  The wood on the walls, in the bathrooms, and facing the bar is predominantly aged worm-eaten elm.  Notice the photograph of the barn stall on the left side of entrance to the stable proper; as late as May of 1979 there were horses quartered in the building.

Illustrations by Nancy Lynch