National and State Parks - Recreational Areas
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Aztalan State Park
Nearby Parks
State Park Information
State Park Overview
This park contains one of Wisconsins most important archaeological sites. It showcases an ancient Middle-Mississippian village and ceremonial complex that thrived between A.D. 1000 and 1300.
Archaeologists theorize that the occupants may have cultural traditions in common with Cahokia - large Middle-Mississippian settlement - East St. Louis, Illinois. The people who settled Aztalan built large, flat-topped pyramidal mounds and a stockade around their village. They hunted, fished and
farmed on the floodplain of the Crawfish River. Portions of the stockade and two mounds have been reconstructed in the park.
The park is mostly open prairie, with 38 of its 172 acres in oak woods. It has an accessible, reservable picnic shelter wells and vault toilets.
You can canoe, boat and
catch northern pike, catfish and
walleye in the Crawfish River, but the park does not have a boat launch.
The park is open from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. A vehicle admission sticker is required.
The Aztalan Museum, operated by the Lake Mills-Aztalan Historical Society, Inc., is just north of the park. It includes two pioneer church buildings and other structures from the 19th century and displays of pioneer life. The museum is open from noon to 4 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays from mid-May through late September. Fees are $3 for adults, $1 for children, free for those under age 7.
The Aztalan Historical Society sponsors a festival on the museum grounds each year on the Sunday closest to July 4, celebrating Aztalans pioneer past.
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