Historic Sites & Museums

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Aztalan Indian Mounds | David EaganAztalan State Park

County Highway Q, east of Lake Mills

Aztalan State Park is one of Wisconsin’s most important archaeological sites. It contains an ancient Middle-Mississippian village and ceremonial complex that existed between A.D. 1000 and 1300. The site was rediscovered in 1835.

In 1850 Increase A. Lapham investigated the site. It became a state park in 1952, a National Landmark in 1964 and listed in the National Registry of Historic Places in 1966. The occupants of Aztalan built large, flat-topped pyramid shaped mounds and a stockade around their village.

Click map marker to get directions

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Lake Koshkonong Effigy Mounds Marker | Pic credit: William J TomanKoshkonong Effigy Mounds

Located in Koshkonong Mounds Park on Koshkonong Mounds Road 1 mile west of Old Wisconsin Highway 26

Koshkonong Effigy Mounds  were built between AD 650 and 1200. Native Americans throughout the southern half of Wisconsin and portions of adjacent states built earthen mounds of various shapes and sizes, including mounds shaped like animals, today called effigy mounds. The 11 mounds preserved here in the Jefferson County Indian Mounds and Trail Park were part of a larger group of 78 mounds and include symmetrical and animal shapes, resembling birds, turtles or lizards, and perhaps spiritual figures. A remnant of an ancient trail is also visible in the park.

See map location below.

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Hoard Historical Musem

Hoard Historical Museum

401 Whitewater Ave. Fort Atkinson
(920) 563-7769

The Hoard Historical Museum is a local history museum with many interesting stories to share. Here you’ll find out about Sauk warrior, Black Hawk, and the 1832 Black Hawk War. Discover what kind of soldier young Abraham Lincoln was and learn how “Fort Atkinson” came to be.  Explore the contributions of two locals of whom we’re very proud: William Dempster Hoard, the father of American dairying; and Lorine Niedecker, world famous poet.

In between all this, you’ll see amazing collections of artifacts, artwork, and much more.  The museum’s new permanent exhibit, Mysteries of the Mounds, is now open for viewing.

Visitors will also enjoy The National Dairy Shrine’s Museum, which features a multimedia show that captures the sights and sounds of dairy farming:  past, present, and future.

See map location below.

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Sterling NorthThe Sterling North & Albion Academy Historical Markers

You’ll find the Sterling North and Albion Academy State Historical Markers on the grounds of the historic Albion Academy. The Albion Academy is open to the public on Sundays, 1pm-4pm.  You can visit a 1918 Classroom, Chapel and the Sterling North Room. Also on the grounds is The Sheepskin School,  a rural one-room schoolhouse that is preserved just like it was when it was closed in 1959 after consolidation with the Edgerton School District.  The school was built before the Civil War.

605 Campus Lane, Edgerton WI 53534

See map location below.

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Blackhawk War Encampment | Burnt Village

Blackhawk War Encampment

A large Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) Village dating from the 1700s once stood in this vicinity. Just before the 1832 Black Hawk War, the village was burned during an intra-tribal battle. On July 6th and 8th, the United States Military camped at this site in their pursuit of Black Hawk and named this place Burnt Village.

The State Historical Marker is on County Route N 2 miles south of Wisconsin Route 106, on the left when traveling south. Located at the south end of Burnt Village County Park.

See map location below.

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National Dairy ShrineThe National Dairy Shrine Museum

Discover the rich heritage of the dairy industry at the National Dairy Shrine Visitors’ Center. Where else can you learn the history of ice cream, see a dog-powered butter churn and check out photos of champion cows dating back nine decades? You’ll leave with a better understanding of why, for nearly 8,000 years, people have depended on the dairy cow for life-sustaining milk and a better quality of life.

Located next to the Hoard Historical Museum
401 Whitewater Ave., Fort Atkinson
(920) 563-7769

See map location below.

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Fort Koshkonong MarkerFort Koshkonong

In 1842 General Atkinson, with more than 4000 frontier soldiers,  followed Black Hawk up the Rock River in an attempt to end the Black Hawk War. After an unproductive sortie up the Bark River, Atkinson returned and built Fort Koshkonong, later known as Fort Atkinson.

400 block of Milwaukee Avenue East, Fort Atkinson

See map location below.

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Fort KoshkonongFort Koshkonong Replica

On July 15, 1832, General Henry Atkinson finished erecting at the junction of the Rock and Bark Rivers a temporary stockade known as Fort Koshkonong. This replica of the Fort was built in the 1960s. It is located in Riverside park in Ft. Atkinson.

In Fort Atkinson this is located in Rock River Park.

See map location below.

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Panther Intaglio Historical MarkerPanther Intaglio

Discovered in 1850 by Increase A. Lapham, this is the only known intaglio Effigy mound in the world. It was excavated for ceremonial purposes by American Indians of the Effigy Mound Culture about 1000 A.D. A part of the tail has been covered. Of ten other recorded intaglios, all now destroyed, eight were similar in representing the panther and two represented bears.

In Fort Atkinson the marker is on Riverside Drive (Wisconsin Route 106), on the left when traveling east.

See map location below.

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Lorine NeideckerLorine Niedecker

Famous poet, Lorine Niedecker (1903-70), lived on Black Hawk Island most of her life and celebrated the sights and sounds of this place in poems ranked among the 20th century’s finest. She lived first in the log-sided house and later the house near the river from 1947-70. 

People have described Lorine Niedecker as a “poet of place” because her poetry was so intricately linked with her environment and experiences. She lived on nearby Blackhawk Island, a flood-prone peninsula jutting into Lake Koshkonong, just west of Fort Atkinson.

Exhibit located in the Hoard Historical Museum
401 Whitewater Ave. Fort Atkinson
(920) 563-7769

See map locations below.

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