I originally intended on Saturday morning to go to town and get a new phone. But when I went I drove up to the business, the parking lot was packed! With a wedding in the afternoon, I decided to go and do a few errands and then try it another day. I just didn’t have the patience to wait about an hour to get waited on.
So after my errands, back home I was heading… we’ll until I got to Fort Atkinson. This is a small town not very far from us and they were having their annual Rendezvous Days. This is a celebration that happens every year, and this year it marked their 36th year.
Decorations
Now I knew that Daryl loves the kettle corn that they sell there, and I was just going to drop in to pick some up and then get home to get ready for the rest of the day. So that was my plan. I couldn’t believe my luck when I found a parking spot not too far from where you would enter. I grabbed my camera and some money and up the long steps I went to the Fort. I really like these kind of things, so it didn’t take too much convincing for me to stop anyway. The weather was absolutely Perfect! It was in the mid 70’s and just a slight breeze. When I bought the kettle corn, the lady in the booth said that they’ve been selling there for over 20 years and she said that she never remembered to have such a perfect day ever! So I got the popcorn and I just happened to walk by the homemade soap stand. I’ve always wanted to make my own soap, but it’s just so much easier to buy someone else’s. I picked up a couple of bars and then with still some time to spare, I started to look around.
My big purchases for the day
There was a lot of people there and even though the pictures might not seem like there was, this fort is sitting on a acre of land so everyone was spread out. I saw a couple of people that I knew, and tried to see the most of activities with the short time that I was there. When I was walking around, I went to the area that is called the Ghost Garrison and was lucky enough to see the soldiers guarding it and the bag pipes playing in the background.
Ghost Garrison
After going through the museum and watching the hatchet throwing, I knew that I better be getting home. I was thinking on the way home that sometimes I look for things for us to do and drive many miles to get there, when if we just look right in our backyard we can find some pretty cool stuff.
Some of the history of the Fort
- Why was it built? To monitor and protect the Winnebago Tribe
- When was it built? 1840–1844
- Who built it? Soldiers and some hired craftsmen
- What was it made of? Logs, limestone, mortar,wooden shingles, brick, planks
- How high was the log picket? 11 feet 9 inches
- How much did it cost? $90,000 (about 2 million in todays dollars) including a road from Ft.Crawford, Wisconsin
- When was it abandoned? February 1849
- Who lived at the fort? 196 Infantry and dragoons,enlisted men, and officers (along with their families)
- Did the Winnebago live at the fort? No. Many lived around the Turkey River with others scattered throughout the Neutral Ground. There was approximately 2000 Winnebago Indians in the area .
- What weapons did they have? Muskets, swords
- Were there any battles at the fort? No. Small skirmishes with regional tribes occurred
- Was the fort ever attacked? No
- When did it become a state preserve? 1968
- A neutral ground was formed to keep the area Indian tribes separated. This neutral ground was a 40 miles stretch and covered multiple states. Fort Atkinson was in the neutral ground.
- Nathan Boone, son of Daniel Boone, was hired to survey the Neutral Ground
Hatchet throwing contests
