A Gathering of Rivers and Stories…

Crawford County lies among the steeply chiseled bluffs and rugged valleys of the region known as the Driftless Area of southwest Wisconsin. Knit together by a series of meandering rivers and trout-filled tributaries, Crawford County offers the first-time visitor places that soothe the soul, and the seasoned visitor reasons enough to return again and again. Here you will find vistas that inspire your imagination, communities that welcome your coming, and special respites away from the hectic pace of city life.

The rivers define Crawford County. The Mighty Mississippi, running powerfully along its western edge; the Wisconsin coursing along its southern boundary; and the Kickapoo winding its way through its heart, give the land its ambiance and appeal. The rivers carried the area’s first explorers and lured the first inhabitants to their banks, and from these intrepid pioneers came the stories of adventure, perseverance, and success that tell our history.

The story of Crawford County has been a long time in the making. The county’s unique topography is the result of escaping the land-flattening glaciers of the last ice age some 10,000 years ago, thereby earning the “Driftless” designation. This rugged terrain played host to a long lineage of prehistoric Indians, including a culture whose animal-shaped burial mounds are preserved at Effigy Mounds National Monument across the river in Marquette, Iowa, and several Native American tribes: including the Ho-Chunk, Mesquakie, and Dakota. Marquette and Joliet arrived in 1673, drawing behind them the French-Canadian voyageurs, entrepreneurs, and traders and in turn, the military interests of the French, British and Americans. They came to explore or seek fortune, to barter their goods at the annual Rendezvous - an assemblage of traders and trappers still celebrated today - and many stayed to live out their lives in this special place.

Completing the story are the people who live here today, from the shopkeepers, innkeepers and restaurateurs who welcome you through their doors, to the artists and artisans who choose this extraordinary setting for daily inspiration. These are the people that make this place - Crawford County - feel like home.

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