Legendary Lake Mills – City of the Pyramids

11-18-12 & 2-18-14 & 2-6-16

We have made two visits to Lake Mills so far.  We returned on May 16, 2014 when the historic site Aztalan reopened for the summer season.  Lake Mills is so interesting, one visit is not enough.   It is a community of 5,708 in Jefferson county 25 miles east of Madison.

Recreation abounds in Lake Mills. The Glacial Drumlin Trail goes through the south end of town, right by the former depot.

Many former train routes were converted to recreation trails in Wisconsin, this being one of them.  Two years ago we rode our tandem bike on this trail.  You can buy trail passes at the depot when it is open.

Here is a sign we saw on the trail. You could see a drumlin from a trail, formed when the glacier was here.

On this 2nd visit, we explored more of the downtown area.  In the Center of town is a triangle-shaped gathering place called Commons Park, complete with a large gazebo in the center.  Many festivals take place here.

We had missed the Knickerbocker Ice festival in the beginning of February. Part of the festival included ice carvings. They were still around almost three weeks later because it has been such a cold winter. This day though was the first of 3 days around 40 so they were melting now. Here is an ice flower.

Many historic buildings surround  Commons park. The Greenwood State Bank building.

The L.D.  Fargo building, now the city library.

The former Opera House, now the Opera Hall Antique Center.

The other side of the Commons has quite a colorful row of buildings.

The third building on the left is Timber Creek Pizza Company. We had ice cream there  (made by Mullen’s in Watertown) after a burger at Sportsman’s Pub on the Park. Another popular restaurant is Carp’s Landing. It is now closed 11-12-17.

 

Lake Mills residents and visitors from miles around stop in town on Fridays only from May-Oct for the American Legion’s famous Slider Hamburgers.  We will try them for ourselves come this May when we return.

Two buildings down from  Timber Creek is Ephraim Faience Pottery, a place to get upscale handmade pottery to decorate your home.

A new store just opened called Calamity Jane’s, just off the Commons. We have to check that out sometime.

Get great honey products here at the Lake Mills Farmers Market. Doug and Yvette Jenks are bee keepers that are happy to serve you!

Lake Mills is continuing to beautify their downtown, now adding murals.  This one was painted last year by Grant Mahr, then a student at Lake Mills High School.  Read more about it here. He did a great job, I hope he does more work like this in the future!

A new Veteran’s Mural was painted in 2014 by artist Joe Kiefer. You can find it on the side of the Shopko Pharmacy building downtown.

Now for the BIG reason why Lake Mills is legendary.  We stopped at Tyranena Park on the north end of Lake Mills, which goes right down to Rock Lake.  Tyranena means, “Sparkling Waters”.  The legend is, Native Americans that lived on the shore of Rock Lake suffered a terrible drought that dried up most of the lake.  It is said they built stone pyramids and offered sacrifices to them.  The rains returned, so much so that the they were submerged in the replenished lake.  They have never been found by divers YET, but the search continues to this day.

At this time of year, it is frozen solid with ice fishing shanties dotting the surface.

Nearby the lake is the Motel Pyramid if you are staying longer than a day. It closed winter 2016. 

2017-Now a Culver’s stands in this spot.

 

We loved our visits to Lake Mills and look forward to returning in the spring when it really gets busy here.

Related Articles and Sites

* Chamber of Commerce

* Lake Mills Main Street Program

* Aztalan Museum

* Pyramid Motel

* Scott Wolter Answers – America Unearthed: The Underwater Pyramids