Rockwood Mill Shoppes and Opera House

Originally built as a lumber mill by Penrose Wolf, a native of Rockwood, the Opera House was refashioned from lumber mill to performance venue in 1904. During the earliest parts of the century the stage hosted names like “Maise Ward Minstrels” a performance of Rip Van Winkle by “J.L. O’Toole & Co” and even “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was performed as a play.

Though no one is certain the exact date the slow death of the Opera House actually forced it to close doors, but the estimate is that shortly after the death of Penrose in 1921, the stage was empty. It seemed likely to stay empty forever, forgotten to time and a victim of an ever increasing technological world until the turn of a new century when a lover of history and purist began restoring the Rockwood Opera House to its former glory. When the doors opened again for the first time in 2000, Seldom Seen Players performed on the formerly empty stage. The Opera House now brings glimpses of an authentic and unadulterated history to people who appreciate a night without technology.