TOWN OF WIOTA - Blackhawk Memorial Park in Lafayette County, is fast losing its status as the best-kept secret in the state.
Preserving 120-acres of natural forested countryside along the Pecatonica River - and a surprising piece of state history, the park has been placed on the Wisconsin State Register of Historic Places and is now waiting for national certification.
"This will keep it as primitive as it is now, forever," said Sally Kahl, secretary of the Friends of Woodford Park, the group responsible for maintaining the county-owned park.
But Kahl said the group also wants the park's recognition to bring more people to southern Wisconsin.
Currently used for recreation, the park has long been known as the site of the Battle of the Pecatonica, the Battle of Bloody Lake or the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, during the 1832 Black Hawk War.
The battle was not the largest military action of the war, but it made Henry Dodge a notable figure in Wisconsin.
He became the first governor of the Wisconsin Territory in 1836 and, eventually, a U.S. Representative and Senator. He declined the Democrat nomination for U. S. President in 1844. Wisconsin received statehood in 1848.
Getting the park on the state Register of Historic Places has been in the making for about 17 years, according to Kahl, but the early attempts were never completed.
"Once you start, you have to keep pursing it. If you stop, everything is null and void," she said.
Over the last five years, Kahl and the Friends group kept submitting and resubmitting the needed information with their application.
"Many, many people were working on this," she said, "and we needed the nomination letters of other people."
In the end, 15 nomination letters from eight different organizations were submitted. Because of the group's advanced research on the park and surrounding area, three months of work was saved, when they needed an archeologist to sign in on the project.
Being placed on the state register automatically nominates the park for consideration on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Department of Interior has not yet acknowledged receipt of their application, Kahl said Friday.
"Once the Secretary of Interior has the paperwork, he has 45 days to read and sign it," she added.
Regardless of the outcome of its national register status, the location of the Battle of Bloody Lake, a turning point in the Black Hawk War for Colonel Henry Dodge and for the United States, has joined the notable list of battles in the war: Wisconsin Heights, near Sauk City, and Bad Ax, the final battle fought near Victory, Wisconsin.
"This is pre-Civil War history, seventeen years before Wisconsin became a state," Kahl noted.
Blackhawk Memorial Park is located north of Woodford, at the end of County Y.
The Friends of Woodford Park will be hosting a commemorative event later in the year.
Preserving 120-acres of natural forested countryside along the Pecatonica River - and a surprising piece of state history, the park has been placed on the Wisconsin State Register of Historic Places and is now waiting for national certification.
"This will keep it as primitive as it is now, forever," said Sally Kahl, secretary of the Friends of Woodford Park, the group responsible for maintaining the county-owned park.
But Kahl said the group also wants the park's recognition to bring more people to southern Wisconsin.
Currently used for recreation, the park has long been known as the site of the Battle of the Pecatonica, the Battle of Bloody Lake or the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, during the 1832 Black Hawk War.
The battle was not the largest military action of the war, but it made Henry Dodge a notable figure in Wisconsin.
He became the first governor of the Wisconsin Territory in 1836 and, eventually, a U.S. Representative and Senator. He declined the Democrat nomination for U. S. President in 1844. Wisconsin received statehood in 1848.
Getting the park on the state Register of Historic Places has been in the making for about 17 years, according to Kahl, but the early attempts were never completed.
"Once you start, you have to keep pursing it. If you stop, everything is null and void," she said.
Over the last five years, Kahl and the Friends group kept submitting and resubmitting the needed information with their application.
"Many, many people were working on this," she said, "and we needed the nomination letters of other people."
In the end, 15 nomination letters from eight different organizations were submitted. Because of the group's advanced research on the park and surrounding area, three months of work was saved, when they needed an archeologist to sign in on the project.
Being placed on the state register automatically nominates the park for consideration on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Department of Interior has not yet acknowledged receipt of their application, Kahl said Friday.
"Once the Secretary of Interior has the paperwork, he has 45 days to read and sign it," she added.
Regardless of the outcome of its national register status, the location of the Battle of Bloody Lake, a turning point in the Black Hawk War for Colonel Henry Dodge and for the United States, has joined the notable list of battles in the war: Wisconsin Heights, near Sauk City, and Bad Ax, the final battle fought near Victory, Wisconsin.
"This is pre-Civil War history, seventeen years before Wisconsin became a state," Kahl noted.
Blackhawk Memorial Park is located north of Woodford, at the end of County Y.
The Friends of Woodford Park will be hosting a commemorative event later in the year.