S5975 Park Road

Summary

Devil's Lake State Park
S5975 Park Road, Town of Baraboo, Sauk County
Architects: Bernard H. Knobla, William E. Riemenschneider, Frank Riley, and J.C. Steiro
Dates of Construction: 1921-1949

Devil's Lake is one of Wisconsin's most spectacular geological features and it is the centerpiece of Devil's Lake State Park, which is the third oldest, the largest, and the most popular state park in Wisconsin's state park system. People have been drawn to the beauty of this lake for thousands of years and it had sacred meaning to Native American peoples long before the first non-native settlers arrived. Evidence of this can be seen today in the conical, linear, and effigy mounds created by the Effigy Mound Culture between AD 700-1200 at the north and south ends of the lake. The name of the lake itself is a sensationalized translation of the Ho-Chunk tribe's name for the lake, "Da-wa-kah-char-gra", which is better translated as meaning "Sacred Lake" or Holy Lake". The earliest non-native visitors to the lake were drawn by the extraordinary natural features displayed here. Enjoyment of the natural environment led to the growth of tourism in the area which in turn facilitated the eventual establishment of the lake and its surroundings as a state park.

The Park is significant for its history, and architectural and archaeological features. Since its founding in 1911, Devil's Lake State Park has embodied the full scope of recreational uses offered in a state park and has influenced generations of visitors in the way in which they experience the grandeur of natural and geologic features. A unique collection of park architecture can also be enjoyed at the Park, including buildings and structures designed in the Rustic style and constructed by members of the Civilian Conservation Corps using wood and quartzite stone, harvested and quarried locally. The Native American burial mounds, their setting and any intact deposits within and surrounding them offers potential to yield information about Native American history and pre-history and aspects of Late Woodland culture, social structure, ritual, cosmology and land use patterns.

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