Thoreau College

Thoreau College and the Driftless Folk School are two branches of a single grassroots educational non profit dedicated to building community and cultural resilience through experiential intergenerational learning rooted in the Driftless Bioregion of the upper Midwest. 

Since 2006, the Driftless Folk School has offered short classes ranging from 3 hrs to 5 days with a focus on hands-on experiences for adults and families with homesteading skills, folk arts and crafts, and the natural world, as well as staging regular community events such as barn dances and the annual Driftless Spoon Gathering.

Thoreau College was founded in 2015 as a ‘microcollege’ with a mission to offer deeply transformative gap year programs and other immersive programs for young adults incorporating academics, manual labor, arts and crafts, experiences in nature, and shared community life.  Thoreau College also stages community cultural events such as the Viroqua Shakespeare Festival, as well as fine arts and academic Community Seminar courses for members of the general public.

Since their merger in 2021, Thoreau College and the Driftless Folk School have benefited from a shared board, staff members, instructors, and facilities.  Both branches of the organization draw inspiration from the Scandinavian roots for the folk school movement, which originally took the form of small residential semester programs for young adults, similar to Thoreau College. Thoreau College students, fellows, and staff regularly participate in DFS classes and community events and DFS instructors frequently teach workshops in Thoreau College programs, deepening the intergenerational learning in both branches of the organization.

Above all, both Thoreau College and the Driftless Folk School share a dedication to service to our local community here in Viroqua and the wider Driftless Region, which serves as our classroom, campus, and home.