Natural Bridge State Park is a

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, United States, featuring Wisconsin's largest

natural arch A natural arch, natural bridge, or (less commonly) rock arch is a natural landform where an arch has formed with an opening underneath. Natural arches commonly form where inland cliffs, coastal cliffs, fins or stacks are subject to erosion f ...

. Directly beneath the arch is the Raddatz Rockshelter, a

rock shelter A rock shelter (also rockhouse, crepuscular cave, bluff shelter, or abri) is a shallow cave-like opening at the base of a bluff or cliff. In contrast to solutional caves (karst), which are often many miles long, rock shelters are almost alway ...

once used by Paleo-Indians and now listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. The park is located southwest of

Baraboo Baraboo is a city in the Midwest and the county seat of Sauk County, Wisconsin, United States. The largest city in the county, Baraboo is the principal city of the Baraboo Micropolitan Statistical Area. Its 2020 population was 12,556. It is situ ...

between the unincorporated communities of Leland and Denzer, in the town of Honey Creek.

Natural history

The park is on the edge of the

Baraboo Range The Baraboo Range is a syncline located in Columbia and Sauk Counties, Wisconsin. It consists of highly eroded Precambrian metamorphic rock. It is about long and varies from 5 to in width. The Wisconsin River, previously traveling in a north ...

in an unglaciated

Driftless Area The Driftless Area, a topographical and cultural region in the American Midwest, comprises southwestern Wisconsin, southeastern Minnesota, northeastern Iowa, and the extreme northwestern corner of Illinois. Never covered by ice during the last ...

of south-central Wisconsin.

Outcrop An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth. Features Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most places the bedrock or superficial ...

s of

quartzite Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tect ...

, hardened sand deposited about 1.6 billion years ago jut out of the tops of these hills. The arch and rock shelter have been weathered out of one such outcropping. The top of the arch is above the ground. The arch opening is wide and high. The rock shelter is wide and deep. The park's hills are forested with oak and other hardwoods. Some ridge tops bear small

prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

remnants with grasses and cactus. Around the outcrop walls grow

fern A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes except t ...

s such as the walking fern (''

Asplenium rhizophyllum ''Asplenium rhizophyllum'', the (American) walking fern, is a frequently-occurring fern native to North America. It is a close relative of '' Asplenium ruprechtii'' (syn: ''Camptosorus sibiricus'') which is found in East Asia and also goes by the ...

''), slender lip fern ('' Cheilanthes feei'') and the rare purple cliffbrake (''

Pellaea atropurpurea ''Pellaea atropurpurea'', commonly known as purple-stem cliffbrake or just purple cliffbrake, is a fern native to North and Central America. ''Brake'' is an old word for fern, related to the word ''bracken''. Like many other members of the Pterid ...

''). The shade of the rock faces also supports ''

Solidago sciaphila ''Solidago sciaphilia'' is known as shadowy goldenrod or cliff goldenrod. The species is endemic to bluffs along the Mississippi River in southern Minnesota, and the driftless area of southwestern Wisconsin, northern Iowa and Illinois. Througho ...

'', a rare goldenrod.

Cultural history

An archaeological excavation of the

was conducted in 1957 by Warren L. Wittry of the

Wisconsin Historical Society The Wisconsin Historical Society (officially the State Historical Society of Wisconsin) is simultaneously a state agency and a private membership organization whose purpose is to maintain, promote and spread knowledge relating to the history of N ...

. His team found evidence of human use over a long time period. The remains of 50

vertebrate Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () ( chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, ...

and 15

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

species were identified. The oldest artifacts were pieces of charred wood, presumably from fire pits, which were dated to between 9000 and 8000 BCE. This would make it the oldest documented site of human occupation in the upper Midwest. There were also artifacts such as antler-scrapers dating back to six to seven thousand years ago. Evidence indicates that the shelter was used only periodically at first, perhaps as a hunting or seasonal camp. Later it was inhabited year-round. The natural bridge has been a

tourist attraction A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or an exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural b ...

for modern visitors since 1870. The state park was established in 1972, and the following year centered on the arch were given a further level of protection as Natural Bridge and Rockshelter State Natural Area. In 1978 the Raddatz Rockshelter was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Recreation

Natural Bridge State Park is open year-round but unstaffed. Visitors needing a parking pass for their vehicle must purchase one from a self-registration stand. Amenities at the park are limited to picnic tables and restrooms. There is no overnight camping. There are two

trail A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or small road usually passing through a natural area. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a path or footpath is the preferred term for a pedestrian or hiking trail. Th ...

s in the park, totalling about . The arch and rock shelter are short distance up the Indian Moccasin Nature Trail, which then loops further through the wooded hills. Signs along the trail interpret the medicinal uses of many native plants. The longer Whitetail Hiking Trail leads across the highway to the less-used southern half of the park. The southern portion of the park is open for hunting during parts of autumn.

References

* *Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Park signage and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources website.

External links

Natural Bridge State Park
{{authority control Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin Driftless Area Natural arches of Wisconsin Protected areas established in 1972 Protected areas of Sauk County, Wisconsin Rock shelters in the United States State Natural Areas of Wisconsin State parks of Wisconsin Articles containing video clips National Register of Historic Places in Sauk County, Wisconsin 1972 establishments in Wisconsin