Does Minnesota Have It’s Own Stonehenge?
Come for the pink quartz cliffs, and stay for the mystery! Blue Mounds State Park which is located in southwestern Minnesota on the Iowa and South Dakota has gorgeous views, buffalo, and a mystery wall! Some are calling it our own version of Stonehenge.
The state park features a cliff that is one and one-half miles long and up to ninety feet high. The park got its name from the cliff which appeared to be blue in color to the early Euro-American immigrants who saw it from a distance. Now on this cliff is where the mystery begins.
Running across 1,250 feet on top of the Blue Mound is a mysterious wall. The wall is as much as five feet in height in some places and is constructed with rocks and small-to-huge boulders. The weird thing is that the sunrise and sunset on the spring and fall equinox closely align with the wall’s east-west orientation.
How did the wall get there? Who built it? Aliens? A MinnPost article from 2016 seems to have the answer we are all seeking:
"Surveys and excavation of the wall in the 1980s, however, concluded that the wall was built after the mid 1800’s."
But what was this mystery wall used for? That debate still rages on with theories ranging from and a barrier to help Indians stampede bison off the cliff during hunts, to the Minnesota equivalent of England’s Stonehenge.
I'm optimistic that it's really our own version of Stonehenge, I guess we should all just take a road trip and check it out for ourselves!