Our County Parks

Today’s County Park is not in Rock County (gasp!) but it relates to Lake Koshkonong, and it fits the overall story I am working on. A short distance into Jefferson County is Lake Koshkonong Effigy Mounds Park. It can be a little complicated to get to, but it’s worth the trip.

The parking area accommodates only two or three cars, but in all the times I have been there, I have rarely found anyone else visiting that didn’t walk from a nearby home. There are no amenities like wash rooms, picnic tables, or playground equipment but there are very nice benches scattered along the trail through the park.

This map is from the brochure provided by the Hoard Historical Museum.
407 Merchant Ave. Fort Atkinson, WI. 53538

This park covers approximately five acres and contains 11 effigy mounds built by Native Americans that predate the Ho-Chunk Nation. There were 72 mounds within an area of about a mile, but with the coming of Europeans and farming, a vast majority were eliminated — making these remaining mounds very precious.

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Nobody really knows why the mounds were constructed in animal shapes, which can only be identified from the air, but it’s widely believed that the purpose was ceremonial. There is the remnant of a trail through the park that is thought to be one the Native Americans traveled during their seasonal migration through the area. These mounds are considered sacred by the Ho-Chunk People, so please be respectful and do not walk on them.

I found a little bit of conflicting information between the plaque at the entrance of the park, and a brochure I picked up at the beginning of the trail. The plaque indicates that the mounds were thought to have been built between the years of 650-1200 AD. The brochure says that this happened between 300-1642 AD. I thought that the 1642 date seemed late; by this time white men were beginning to come into this area, and I thought the mound builders were a much older culture. After contacting the Hoard Historical Museum, the creator of the brochure, the earlier 650 to 1200 time frame is more correct.

Walking the trail through the park feels wonderful. I love spending time there because the energy of it is so peaceful. As you walk around the various mounds its hard not to imagine what the people who lived in the area, and built these amazing mounds, must have been like. I find it is a great place to meditate. I would recommend taking some time and visiting this park. Also, bring some kind of bug defense, as the park backs up to a thick patch of trees, and is heavily wooded itself.

For more information about this Jefferson County Park you can contact follow this link.

Have a great day!

Our County Parks

Royce Dallman Park is the next on the list of County Parks that I visited. You can find this park at Charley Bluff, off Cnty. N straight out Charley Bluff Road. While it is not the smallest of Rock County Parks, at just 2.3 acres, it is more a launching site for small boats onto Lake Koshkonong than it is a park. It does have some nice amenities. There is a picnic pavilion with a couple of tables, rest rooms with pit toilets, a water pump, one grill that is quite a ways past the rest rooms a water pump and there are trash bins. When I was visiting the park the rest rooms were fairly clean but had no toilet tissue, so it might be a good idea to bring some along, just to be on the safe side.

This park is named for Royce Dallman who lived and worked in the county as a DNR Game Warden from 1940 to 1964.

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The park is a long loop with one road into the park and the opposite side of the loop heading out. There is ample parking for vehicles hauling boat trailers but no real designated area for cars. Your best bet is to park up by the wash rooms or off to the side of the lot on the exit portion of the loop. The restrooms are at the end of the parking lot. You can almost see them.

The boat launch has a little bit of a curve to it but the boaters seemed to not have an issue with it. There is a boat launch fee and envelopes provided to pay with a secure drop point for the envelope. Fishing is allowed on the lake with Muskellunge, Walleye, Sauger, Large and Small Mouth Bass in the lake. A sign is posted with size and catch limits.

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There is a map of the lake near the boat launch that shows the locations of the most shallow areas of the lake and something that I though was pretty impressive. There is a life preserver station that gives people the opportunity to borrow life preservers for children that do not have one. Then, when you are done boating you simply return it to the bin.

What the park lacks in playground equipment and space for games it more than makes up for and shines in the area of water sports. The lake is a natural shallow reservoir approximately half way between Fort Atkinson and Indian Ford. It’s average depth ranges from six to seven feet. There was a time when it was the second largest inland lake in the state but has dropped to the eighth largest. That still makes it a good size lake at about 10500 acres! There is so much more that I could tell you about this jewel in our county, but I don’t want to give away too much information about the lake, as I am planning a future blog about it, so I will stop here with two views of the beautiful Lake Koshkonong!