Richfield Historical Society

Richfield Ship On The Hill

It's a crisp fall day in the mid-to late 1940s, and you're enjoying an invigorating walk. You find yourself hiking the Kettle Moraine in the area of Friess Lake, Fox and Hounds, and Alpine Retreat. As you shuffle through the golden leaves blanketing the ground, in the distance you marvel at Holy Hill, the remaining swaths of autumn color, and the ship on the hill. You stop. The ship on the hill?

The unusual vessel you're looking at is a full-scale model of a Greek cargo ship. Its history is equally unusual. Its creator, Dionysios (Dan) Saloupis, was born in Greece in 1890. Dan came to Milwaukee in 1910 to escape compulsory enrollment into the pre-World War I Greek army. Dan didn't, however, evade military service! He joined the U.S. Navy, serving as an interpreter from 1918 until 1922.

Dan was a soft-spoken gent who folks said was calm and patient. He spent six long years building the vessel perched on the Kettle Moraine hilltop to commemorate his birthplace and childhood spent in Kparissia, a port town in Greece.

Although Dan's father's craft was shipbuilding, Dan didn't return to the trade until the mid-1940s. He worked as a barber in Milwaukee and built a Spanish-style cottage near the future site of his ship. Sadly, the cottage mysteriously burned to the ground when he was in California in 1944. Dan tried to sell the property the cottage had sat on and received only low offers. Then, he was inspired to construct a ship-style home. He had sleeping quarters on the ship, and he prepared his meals in what remained of the basement of his old cottage. Dan also built a bunk house for friends who visited.

The ship itself, which Dan used as a summer retreat, was securely anchored to the hill on which it perched in order to withstand the harsh elements of the Kettle Moraine. Ten guide wires supported the vessel. They were connected to creosoted cedar posts buried six feet deep under stone and sand. The ship's base was constructed of six feet of concrete. Dan proudly proclaimed that the only way his ship would blow away is if the hill itself jarred loose!

Continuing on your fall walk, you get close enough to the ship to notice its special qualities. Its siding, for example, is made from fir that was bent dry. Although oak is normally used on similar vessels, Dan steam heated the fir before bending it. Dan firmly believed that his ship could float! The facade of the ship includes Greek Key design, a decorative border constructed from a continuous line, shaped into a repeated motif. You linger over the pilot's wheel, which over a two-year period, Dan shaped entirely by hand except for the banister poles used as spokes. You marvel at the colorfully painted dragons on the ship's prow, the forward-most part of the ship that cuts through the water. Dan had commented that while the dragons may not be authentic, he seemed sure no one would have ever seen a real dragon.

You are not the first to discover Dan's ship during your walk: his unique home was observed by many others including the National Geographic magazine, which complimented its uniqueness as being the only vessel of its kind on the side of a hill.

Unfortunately, other observers were not as kind. When Dan came up from Milwaukee, he'd find parts of his ship missing. Even when he opened the ship to the public, vandals continued to strip pieces of it. Dan left a jar at the entrance of the ship, very similar to what we might contribute to for the upkeep of historic places we visit. As one might expect, the jar and its donations were stolen. Frustrated, Dan told neighbors that he was going to tear down his ship. That's exactly what he did, taking down parts of it with his bare hands. He gave his treasured pilot's wheel to neighbors. While other pieces were salvaged, most of what remained of the ship was hauled away.

Dionysios Saloupis died in California at the age of 76 on December 1, 1966. The story of Dan's vessel lives on in Kettle Moraine lore. And, had you taken that fall adventure walk in the 1940s, you might be sharing your own story about the ship on the hill!

A model of the Ship on the Hill can be seen in the Hartford History Room located at the Jack Russell Memorial Library in Hartford, WI. The model was built by Evarist Henke.

Story Written by Susan Brushafter

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