Sentimental journey

The Romeo and Juliet Tower - a windmill designed by Frank Lloyd Wright to pump water for his aunts' Hillside Home School near Spring Green - still surveys the Wyoming Valley from its hilltop, belying the fears of the local contractor who believed the tower, with its unique interlocking design, would crumble in the first high wind. So begins contributing writer Kristin Visser's tour of Wright's Spring Green. "Visitors to Wright's beloved valley can trace both his life and his brilliant, unconventional career as an architect in the buildings he designed in the valley, just 30 miles west of Madison," she writes. Today, Taliesin Preservation Inc. offers tours of the Taliesin estate from May through October. For details, visit www.taliesinpreservation.org/visitorsguide/tours.htm. Visser, a valued Isthmus contributor for many years, died in 1998 at age 48. A planner with the state Department of Natural Resources, she also operated Prairie Oak Press with her husband, Jerry Minnich. Visser authored several books, including Frank Lloyd Wright and the Prairie School in Wisconsin: An Architectural Touring Guide and Frank Lloyd Wright's Seth Peterson Cottage: Rescuing a Lost Masterwork.