Rochester is a rural white-collar community eighty miles southeast of Minneapolis and St. Paul that was settled in 1850 by migrants from Rochester, New York. After a tornado devastated the town in 1883, Dr. William W. Mayo established the now famous Mayo Clinic. Tourists can tour the beautiful mansions of Mayowood and Plummer House, both former residences, one of the clinic's founder, the other of a co-worker, with their original furnishings and elaborate grounds. Or if the outdoors is more to one's liking, the Quarry Hill Nature Center offers three hundred acres of parkland, plants, animals, hiking and fishing and the Forestville/Mystery Cave offers three different cave tours along with other outdoor activities including hiking, fishing, camping, and in the wintertime skiing and snowmobiling.
