The Mars’ Cheese Castle on I-94 in Kenosha has been around for over 65 years.
For as long as I’ve been able to read, the Mars’ Cheese Castle has been something that always caught my eye when traveling I-94 through the Kenosha area. It was a place I always wished my parents would stop at, even just to check it out. As a kid, I always wondered what it was about. Perhaps, having the word Mars in the name is what created such curiosity. After all, space was something that interested every kid that grew up with Star Wars and Mars meant it was from space didn’t it? A name like Mars’ Cheese Castle has to be one of the most interesting names you could give a business. I also always wondered why it was called a castle. For most of my life, it never really resembled a castle to me. Well, somewhat recently, that changed.
Every place has it’s landmarks.
As a kid, I knew that when I saw that Cheese Castle sign heading home from Chicago, that the trip was finally getting close to home. Heading south on I-94, the Mars’ Cheese Castle meant that the Illinois-Wisconsin border was not too far away. Or, at least we were getting close to the Kenosha outlet malls when heading south.
The Mars’ Cheese Castle now really looks like a castle.
It has that wonderful old look of a stone castle on the outside. On the inside, it’s nice, clean, modern, and bright. A big improvement over what it looked like inside before (which looked a bit more like a dungeon than a castle to me). I’m pretty sure that the new building has something to do with the improvements on I-94 between Chicago and Milwaukee. It’s a beautiful modern new building that really shows off the wonderful things they have to offer to a someone traveling I-94 between Chicago and Milwaukee.
What does the Mars Cheese Castle have to offer an I-94 traveller?
- Cheese
- Sausages (and other meats like Canadian bacon)
- Fresh bakery
- A restaurant
- A tavern (with an outdoor “beer garden”)
- Souvenirs
- A place to walk your dog
In fact, they have over 300 different cheeses to choose from. They have gift boxes with cheeses and sausages. They have a selection of wines to take home as well as a tavern that serves microbrews. One of the things that caught my attention the most with the new building was the bakery with many different types of fresh breads and sweets to choose from. I don’t remember if they had a bakery before but the new building really shows it off. They have a huge new parking lot and an area near the southwest of the castle to walk your dog.
The Cheese Castle has a website for ordering their products online. While it’s great for buying gifts, I’d suggest stopping in at the Castle sometime. I don’t think the website does it justice.
Just look for the Mars’s Cheese Castle sign.
It’s only about a half hour south of Milwaukee and less then 12 minutes north of the Illinois-Wisconsin border on I-94. There is easy on and off access to I-94 right there on Burlington Road / 143.
How could you say you’ve been to Wisconsin without stopping at Mars?
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