As children we hiked to the top of the Mississippi River bluff, where legend has it that Michael Brisbois was buried so that he “could look down upon his intense business rival in death as he did in life.”
Or maybe he just enjoyed the view. History works that way, embedding its trail into the fabric of the landscape on whatever piece of land that pulls it in that direction. The land shapes history as surely as it directs the flow of rivers. And in Driftless Wisconsin, we find the abundance of natural resources and ever-present challenges that attracted its first inhabitants.
The first Native Americans were drawn to the Upper Mississippi River Valley by a land rich in game, fish, and life-sustaining water. Their footprints through early human history are now marked by Indian burial mounds that crown the tops of area bluff tops. Effigy Mounds National Monument, just across the river from Driftless Wisconsin in Marquette, Iowa, has preserved over 200 burial mounds in the shapes of animals.
It was to this mecca of natural resources that the first European explorers and settlers were drawn, coming to trade furs and explore the new frontier. Farmers and shopkeepers followed, who like my grandfather, tilled the rolling land and planted towns in sheltered river valleys and on windblown ridge tops.
Driftless Wisconsin forms a mosaic of this layered history. Every road follows the trail of settlement. Numerous historic markers tell this story, and you would do well, on your journey through this compelling landscape, to stop and read a chapter of the story. There are 21 markers throughout Crawford and Vernon counties, listed here on the Wisconsin Historical Marker blog.
The best way to step back through that portal of time is to visit one of our many historic attractions. Those visits should start with Norskedalen Nature and Heritage Center near Coon Valley, which is “dedicated to preserving, interpreting and sharing the natural environment and cultural heritage of the area;” and Villa Louis Historic Site at Prairie du Chien, a Victorian mansion restored to its original 1880’s splendor.
The narrative of history has been written by nature as well as humans. The Kickapoo Valley Reserve near La Farge has a visitor center and miles of hiking trails that will acquaint you with the natural forces at work in the Kickapoo River watershed. And at Wyalusing Park at the confluence of the Mississippi and Wisconsin Rivers, where Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet first set eyes on the Mississippi, you can witness the deep river valleys cut over time by water.
You don’t need to be a child to enjoy the excitement of discovery. You just need to rediscover a child’s curiosity. And along the way, maybe enjoy the view.