First Day Hike Success at High Cliff State Park

by Donna Franczek

Across the state of Wisconsin, numerous First Day (January 1st) Hikes took place with little or no snow. Here in Sherwood, we had a beautiful dusting of snow creating a winter wonderland for our hikers. Those healthy New Year resolutions were off to a good start! According to the January OutWiGo newsletter, there were 2,264 people who participated at 24 different state properties with a total of 3,910 miles hiked!  

High Cliff State Park had the largest showing of all the state properties with 325 people hiking for a total of 910 miles! Based on the many families' smiles who stopped in the office for the Friends of High Cliff (FOHC) sponsored hot chocolate and popcorn, it was a big victory! Hikers could also view a history of the park on the TV. We hadn't hosted a First Day Hike in over 20 years!  We hope your healthy resolutions are still going strong and thank you everyone for making High Cliff State Park number 1 in this event!

High Cliff State Park Activities & Upcoming Events

As we welcome the new year, it's the perfect time to highlight achievements at High Cliff State Park last year.

• 2024 was the second busiest year on record for High Cliff State Park, with an astounding 716,907 visitors! (July was busiest with 94,108)
• Camping reached new heights in 2024, with a whopping 14,318 nights camped.

Join us on April 26th for our Arbor Day Tree Planting Event and on October 18th for a spooktacular Halloween Campground Walk. These events promise to be fun-filled and memorable for all who attend.

For more details on upcoming park events, visit: 

https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/events/location/highcliff.

Early Lime Production at High Cliff: The Cook and Brown Era

1880-1900

by Daniel M. Seurer

High Cliff State Park was once the home of a vibrant lime and crushed rock industry going back over 150 years. The lime kiln ruins still visible today along the eastern shore of Lake Winnebago represent the final 55 years of quarrying and lime production, from 1900 until the plants shut down in 1955 when the final owners, Western Lime and Stone, sold the land to the state to make way for the present park.

Production of lime and crushed rock materials predates the facilities we see today at High Cliff by nearly 40 years. Almost nothing is left of this early operation, but a careful eye can still find faint traces of the old lime kilns on the shoreline west and a little south of the remaining kilns.

The Cook and Brown Company, based in Oshkosh, was the first well-documented operation at High Cliff. Limestone was extracted from the top of the escarpment. These old quarries, now covered in forest, can still be seen when walking along the Red Bird Trail on the bluff top. The quarried limestone was transported to a dock area just south of the current kilns for shipment to the Cook and Brown plant in Oshkosh. In the early years of the Cook and Brown operation, limestone was shipped by barge when the lake was ice-free, and over the ice in the winter when ice conditions were favorable. A single lime kiln at their plant, near the old Park Plaza mall in Oshkosh, produced lime to meet the needs of a growing city.

Sometime in the 1880s, Cook and Brown determined it was better to produce lime nearer the source of the limestone, thereby eliminating the time and expense of hauling large quantities of rock across the lake. 

The two original Cook and Brown kilns remained in operation until around 1900. The decision was made to build a newer, modern plant. Most important of all, by moving the plant to the new location a railroad spur was built to the plant to provide more efficient transportation to a broader market. The remains of this new plant, complete with a hydration plant for the production of architectural lime mortar, and a stone crushing plant are preserved today and visible along the appropriately named Lime Kiln Trail.

The old Cook and Brown plant was abandoned and quickly fell into ruins. The wooden storage sheds and cooperage were the first to go. The lime kilns remained standing until sometime in the 1920s when they were torn down. A hardy adventurer, braving brambles and tree falls, can find traces of the kilns today. The telltale signs to look for are fragments of the firebrick which lined the kilns, and some of the dressed limestone blocks that formed the outer shell of the kilns.

High Cliff in the Winter 1898

By Cynthia R Mueller, Retired High Cliff Naturalist and High Cliff Descendant

If you think that High Cliff is quiet in the winter now, just imagine living at High Cliff in the winter around the turn of the 19th century. What did people do back then? How did they occupy their time? Let me tell you that life was not boring or slow. In fact, life was very busy. Getting through “old fashioned” winters was about survival and started in the fall.

Early in the fall when hickory, walnut and oak trees produced nuts, residents were busy collecting these valuable little bits of protein.  Root plants such as potatoes, carrots, beets and onions, grown in backyard gardens, were stored in cool dark fruit cellars. Apples, pears, cherries and other fruits were made into delicious jellies and jams. Tomatoes, beans, pickles, meat and other staples were preserved in jars and stocked on shelves. Conserving food usage was key. Many families had a cow or two, not only for meat, but for fresh milk to drink and make butter. Though hard keepers during the winter months, chickens provided essential eggs and meat. Feathers were collected for pillows and comforters.

Kitchen pantries mostly had hand pumps to bring well water indoors, but when the pump was frozen, High Cliff residents counted on the artesian springs that bubbled up water from underneath the rock layers of the ledge. This writer remembers filling up jugs with fresh, cold water into the late 1950s.

Since refrigeration was not afforded to everyone, Lake Winnebago provided an endless supply of ice during the winter months. Men would cut large chunks of ice and place them on horse drawn sleds. Horses pulled the sleds or carts into Menasha and Appleton to supply ice houses for the resale of this precious commodity. If you had an “ice-box”, ice could last for weeks indoors. If you lived in a rural area, ice would be buried in a shed outdoors under piles of straw or sawdust. Some stories suggest that ice lasted well into the first part of summer.

At High Cliff, the lime plant continued to operate during the winter. Workers would often trudge up to the General Store to warm up around the wood stove and share local news and gossip. Spittoons surrounded the men as they enjoyed their chewing tobacco. A post office was located within the General Store from 1856 to 1946. Mail was delivered to and from Sherwood twice daily via a sled and donkey. Now that’s service!

Ice fishing was also a way of life. There was little difference between how people fished back then and now. Chopping holes in the ice was a bit more tedious when using hand tools. Fishing gear was basic and homemade. Goldenrod galls gave up grubs for jigging hooks to catch panfish. Grubs could be collected anytime during the winter months. Spearing for lake sturgeon, “the giant fish of Winnebago”, was accomplished with poles carved from hardwood trees, spear tines forged at the nearby blacksmith shop down the street from the General Store. A cattle rope tied through a hole cut-in near the top of the pole completed the spear setup. White enamel pitchers and other household objects were “borrowed” from Ma’s kitchen to use as decoys in the murky water. Hand-carved wooden decoys that resembled fish were adorned with bright paint to lure in the unsuspecting fish. Fresh sturgeon was prepared boiled and fried. The remainder was usually smoked and sometimes frozen, though even a big fish didn’t last long with the large families of High Cliff.

The stories are endless about winters on the ledge, but let’s end with a sledding adventure down the old steep road. Not the one you drive up today, but the original path that went up to the top to the tower. Kids might spend a summer fashioning sleds or toboggans out of lumber, metal and rope. A whole family could fit on a big toboggan. The more weight, the slower the speed. Sleds were usually for a single daredevil, or maybe even an unwilling sister being pushed into motion without warning! What fun! Albeit it was a bit dangerous. The sleds torpedoed to the bottom of the steep hill at high speeds. The more screaming you could hear, the more thrilling the ride. The saving grace for stopping was that there was a big curve at the bottom of the road that allowed for a calculated stop, and included hysterical laughter. Everyone made it out alive… those really were the days! (Note: The old hill is now a snowmobile trail and is not open for sledding.)

This article may not be copied or reproduced in whole or part without written consent of the author. All rights reserved 2025.

Friends of High Cliff Accomplishment Report,

It’s a Wrap for 2024!

Compiled by Lorrie Formella, Written by Donna Franczek

The Friends of High Cliff (FOHC) had another busy year. One of the biggest endeavors was beginning work on the Lime Kiln Trail Rehabilitation project. Phase 1 work included the waterfall area of the trail. If you haven’t yet walked from the parking lot trail head to the waterfall area, please do. It’s surreal sitting on one of the large rocks in the newly constructed observation lobe viewing the icy waterfall and frozen Lake Winnebago, reducing stress and anxiety! 

Our list of accomplishments is extensive; therefore, this is an abbreviated list, spotlighting a few of our 2024 achievements:

•  Accepted the project report, submitted by Trail Eyes, for the Lime Kiln Trail rehabilitation project
• Completed Phase 1 of the Lime Kiln Trail: Observation lobe with council stones, secondary drainage created, replaced culvert, changed elevation and more
• Created electronic newsletters for each season
• Planted over 120 trees including fencing and ongoing maintenance
•   Installed a new credit card system to help with FOHC merchandise sales
• Sponsored over 40 events. Popular ones included: Smokey’s 80 birthday party, High Cliff History Event with past families, Shakespeare in the Park, and Steve Keller’s Snake Show
•  Increased Facebook followers to over 6K
• Removed many hazardous trees and invasive species

Please consider becoming a friend! Join Us!

Winter Night Wanderings

By Rob Zimmer

The dark of night comes early in the dead of winter and this is my favorite time to explore the ledge at High Cliff State Park. There is nothing quite like exploring the trails along the great ledge after dark, experiencing the snow glow and the diamond shimmer of countless stars overhead. And, of course, there is the night music. The voices of the night haunt the winter forest and the rocky cliffs. The voices of the night scream and chant and rumble and squeal and whinny and hoot. The voices of the night are welcome as I wander beneath the dark skies. In the glow of the full Wolf Moon, the skeletons of trees create patterns in the sky overhead. Interlocking, yet never touching. A web of branches overhead. Wandering along the ledge at night after a fresh snowfall is simply magical. The glow of the fresh snow offers an inviting warmth, and a welcome silence.

At night, the forest is a whole different place. A whole different, dream-like destination. Beyond the shadows, just out of view, the night music plays on. The Eastern Screech Owl utters its unusual, horse-like whinny in the darkness. An eerie, ghostlike, yet magical sound that drifts through the winter night. Another answers, at a lower pitch, creating a breathtaking duet in the darkness. The much larger Barred Owl sings a well-known, familiar tune. “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you all?“ As I walk beneath the winter trees, the courtship of owls erupts in the darkness as the night comes to life. The orchestra of the winter night continues with the baritone music of Lake Winnebago herself. In the still of the night, the lake ice settles, pinging and screeching and squealing and thundering as it deepens in its frigid cradle. This haunting, magical music of the night is one of the most incredible sounds one can experience on a winter wandering at High Cliff. The night voices of the foxes, red and gray, as well as the excited choir of coyotes in the distance are also often heard on a quiet winter night.

Above, shimmering in the sky, the stars of Orion the Hunter take their place among the heavens. Stargazing along the top of the ledge, or from the shores of the beach or marina, is spectacular on the coldest and clearest nights. Be sure to be in tune with northern lights forecast as the clear, dark skies over the lake and to the north are the perfect place to enjoy the wonder of the aurora dance. Treat yourself to a night of exploration along the great Niagara escarpment at High Cliff this winter.

Announcement of FOHC Board Meeting Change:

Typically, the Friends of High Cliff Board meets monthly at 6:00 pm in the park office. However, the Board members wanted to experiment with having an earlier time. Therefore, the next meeting will be February 26 at 3:00 pm. Please remember the Board meetings are open to all. For any updates, please check Facebook too.

Photo Credits in this Winter Issue: Beth Braun, Greg Burns and Donna Franczek

N7630 State Park Rd

Sherwood, WI 54169

920-989-1106