Take A Hike Through Ancient Ruins In This Mysterious Wisconsin Park

Located between Madison and Milwaukee, Aztalan State Park offers a connection to WIsconsin's past.

The area is rich in history going back about 1,000 years:

Aztalan State Park is a National Historic Landmark and contains one of Wisconsin's most important archaeological sites, showcasing an ancient Middle-Mississippian village that thrived between A.D. 1000 and 1300. The people who settled Aztalan built large, flat-topped pyramidal mounds and a stockade around their village. Portions of the stockade and two mounds have been reconstructed in the park.

You're going to want to stretch before tackling this park. It expands for acres, with each corner of the park inviting you to explore.

You'll find numerous informative centers around the park, talking about what took place on these grounds a millennium ago.

RELATED: The Oldest Highway in America Runs Through Illinois

Stockades were erected to display what was built on this site generations ago. No one is really quite sure what the tall timber was used for, but archeological records show that this is how they were arranged.

The park has a mysterious, ethereal sense to it that seems to change as you walk through the park.

It was first discovered in modern times in 1835 when Timothy Johnson was the first to report seeing the towering stockades and huge burial mounds. Many other artifacts were found by the initial discoverers that have been lost to history.

A trip to Aztalan State Park is one that you will definitely not forget anytime soon.