Salem Lakes, WI

Salem Lakes is a Kenosha County village near the Illinois line, made up of several older lake communities that were brought together under one local government. Its name fits the place: Camp Lake, Center Lake, Hooker Lake, and other small waters shape much of the local map. The area has roots going back to the 1830s, when John Dodge became one of Salem's earliest settlers, and today it feels like a residential, lake-country edge of southeast Wisconsin rather than a single compact downtown.