About The River

Monday, May 16, 2011

Wisconsin State Parks

We just got back from our first camp trip of the year. We headed to Copper Falls State Park, Mellen WI. We had a great time. The waterfalls were amazing. The Bad River Gorge still had snow! This made me come up with an idea for some future blog posts. You may remember that I mentioned that my son did his fourth grade project on the State Parks. His plan for our family is to visit all of them together. I thought I would post about the State Park too. I will also give some facts, and some tips we learned along the way.
To give you an idea of how the State Parks of Wisconsin began...and what State Park was the first....take a peek at Sam's begining report...
A Vision

In 1895 an Ad Hoc commission was appointed to examine lands for a State Park. Commissioners examined land in Polk County to be the home of the first State Park.
In 1899 money was approved for Interstate Park.
In 1900 the first vision of a Wisconsin State Park began. Interstate State Park was established.
The parks famed cliffs,known as the Dalles of the St. Croix rise 200 feet out of the St. Croix River and run for over half of a mile right around a sharp bend in the river. Though best known for it's famed cliffs Interstate's beauty spreads across all of it's 1,330 acres

Way back in 1895 the idea came about ... and in 1900 the first park was established. Interstate Park was the first Wisconsin State Park...(now you will have some trivia for someone)

I am thankful we have State Parks. They are a lot of fun and it amazes me as we travel Wisconsin how beautiful and different it all is.
I thank God too, for letting us enjoy his creation! 

1 comment:

  1. I looked at the Wisconsin State Parks map and was dismayed to see that there's only four state parks in the top of the state. The bulk of them are in the bottom. It really bugs me that the closest park, Big Bay, is only accessible by an expensive ferry. For our family it would cost over $100 just for the ferry ride over to Madeline Island. I'm hoping this summer or fall, to bite the bullet and go anyway. Besides Pattison, Amnicon, Copper Falls, and Big Bay, what are your favorite parks that are closest to Ashland?

    ReplyDelete

High Fives from Wisconsin!