Big Foot Beach State Park | |
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IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape) | |
Location | Walworth, Wisconsin, United States |
Coordinates | 42°34′8″N88°25′36″W / 42.56889°N 88.42667°W Coordinates: 42°34′8″N88°25′36″W / 42.56889°N 88.42667°W |
Area | 272 acres (110 ha) |
Established | 1949 |
Governing body | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources |
Website | Big Foot Beach State Park |
Big Foot Beach State Park is a state park of Wisconsin, United States, on Geneva Lake. The park is used primarily for hiking, swimming, camping, and fishing.
The beach and park are named for Big Foot (a translation from the Potawatomi Maumksuck (Mmangzed), also known in French as Gros Pied), an early Potawatomi leader in the area until his band forcibly relocated by the United States in 1836. Big Foot Lake was the original English name of Geneva Lake. [1]
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third-largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that of Lake Huron through the 3+1⁄2 miles wide, 295 feet deep, Straits of Mackinac, giving it the same surface elevation as its easterly counterpart; the two are technically a single lake.
Walworth County is a county located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 106,478. Its county seat is Elkhorn. The county was created in 1836 from Wisconsin Territory and organized in 1839. It is named for Reuben H. Walworth. Walworth County comprises the Whitewater-Elkhorn, WI Micropolitan Statistical Area and is included in the Milwaukee-Racine-Waukesha, WI Combined Statistical Area. Lake Geneva, the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, and Alpine Valley Resort, and Music Theatre are located in Walworth County.
Ozaukee County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 91,503. Its county seat is Port Washington, making it one of three Wisconsin counties on Lake Michigan not to have a county seat with the same name. Ozaukee County is included in the Milwaukee–Waukesha–West Allis, WI Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Lake Geneva is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located in Walworth County and situated on Geneva Lake, it was home to 8,277 people as of the 2020 census, up from 7,651 at the 2010 census. It is about 40 miles southwest of Milwaukee and 65 miles northwest of Chicago.
Farmington is a town in Washington County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 3,239 at the 2000 census. The unincorporated communities of Boltonville, Cheeseville, Fillmore, and Orchard Grove are located in the town. The unincorporated community of Saint Michaels is also located partially in the town.
Richfield is a village in Washington County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 11,739 at the 2020 census. The previously unincorporated communities of Hubertus and Pleasant Hill are located in the village, as well as the communities of Colgate and Lake Five, which are partially located in Richfield.
Muskego is a city in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 25,032. Muskego is the fifth largest community in Waukesha County, Wisconsin. Muskego has a large Norwegian population. The name Muskego is derived from the Potawatomi Indian name for the area, "Mus-kee-Guaac", meaning sunfish. The Potawatomi were the original inhabitants of Muskego. There are three lakes within the city's boundaries.
Mishicot is a village in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,442 at the 2010 census. The village is adjacent to the Town of Mishicot.
Two Rivers is a city in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 11,712 at the 2010 census. It is the birthplace of the ice cream sundae. The city's advertising slogan is "Catch our friendly waves" as it is located along Lake Michigan.
The Potawatomi, also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie, are a Native American people of the western Great Lakes region, upper Mississippi River and Great Plains. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a member of the Algonquin family. The Potawatomi call themselves Neshnabé, a cognate of the word Anishinaabe. The Potawatomi are part of a long-term alliance, called the Council of Three Fires, with the Ojibway and Odawa (Ottawa). In the Council of Three Fires, the Potawatomi are considered the "youngest brother" and are referred to in this context as Bodwéwadmi, a name that means "keepers of the fire" and refers to the council fire of three peoples.
The Fox River is a 202-mile-long (325 km) tributary of the Illinois River, flowing from southeastern Wisconsin to Ottawa, Illinois in the United States. The Wisconsin section was known as the Pishtaka River in the 19th century. There is another Fox River in Wisconsin that flows through Lake Winnebago into Green Bay. There are also two other "Fox Rivers" in southern Illinois: the Fox River and a smaller "Fox River" that joins the Wabash River near New Harmony, Indiana.
Geneva Lake is a body of freshwater in Walworth County in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. On its shores are the city of Lake Geneva, and the villages of Fontana-on-Geneva-Lake, and Williams Bay. The lake is known as the only place in the world where mail jumping is practiced, an unusual mail delivery system maintained as a local tradition. The lake covers an area of approximately 5,401 acres, with a maximum length of 7.7 miles (12.4 km), a mean depth of 61 feet (19 m), and a maximum depth of 135 feet (41 m). Geologists believe that it is a filled-in kettle formed from a receding glacier.
Big Foot High School (BFHS) is a comprehensive four-year public high school located in Wisconsin's South Central Walworth County in the Village of Walworth. A union high school, BFHS operates as a grade 9-12 district with students coming from four K-8 districts. BFHS is governed by a separate, elected five-member board of education. The BFHS union district serves families from the villages of Fontana, Sharon and Walworth; and the townships of Walworth, Delavan, Linn and Sharon.
Washington Island is an island of the state of Wisconsin situated in Lake Michigan. Lying about 7 miles (11 km) northeast of the tip of the Door Peninsula, it is part of Door County, Wisconsin. The island has a year-round population of 708 people according to the 2010 census. It has a land area of 60.89 km² and comprises over 92 percent of the land area of the town of Washington, as well as all of its population. The unincorporated community of Detroit Harbor is situated on the island. It is the largest in a group of islands that includes Plum, Detroit, Hog, Pilot, Fish, and Rock Islands. These islands form the Town of Washington. Detroit Harbor bay is on the south side of the island. A large part of Washington Island's economy is based on tourism.
The Forest County Potawatomi Community is a federally recognized tribe of Potawatomi people with approximately 1,400 members as of 2010. The community is based on the Forest County Potawatomi Indian Reservation, which consists of numerous non-contiguous plots of land in southern Forest County and northern Oconto County, Wisconsin, United States. The community also administers about 7 acres (28,000 m2) of off-reservation trust land in the city of Milwaukee. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the reservation and off-reservation trust land together have a total area of 22.72 square miles (58.8 km2). The combined population of Forest County Potawatomi Community and Off-Reservation Trust Land was 594 in the 2020 census. The nation's administrative and cultural center are located about three miles east of Crandon, Wisconsin.
Rock Island is a mostly wooded island off the tip of Wisconsin's Door Peninsula at the mouth of Green Bay, in Door County, Wisconsin. The 974.87-acre (394.5 ha) island is approximately 1.6 miles (2.6 km) long and 1.1 miles (1.8 km) wide. It rises to 65 meters above Lake Michigan, making it the highest in elevation out of all the Potawatomi Islands. It is almost entirely owned by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, which maintains Rock Island State Park. It is the northernmost part of the town of Washington.
Potawatomi State Park is a 1,225-acre (496 ha) Wisconsin state park northwest of the city of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin in the Town of Nasewaupee. It is located in Door County along Sturgeon Bay, a bay within the bay of Green Bay. Potawatomi State Park was established in 1928.
Big Foot Prairie is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in McHenry County, Illinois, United States. It was named a CDP prior to the 2020 census which showed a population of 65. It is located in Chemung Township. Big Foot Prairie is located on U.S. Route 14, 5 miles (8.0 km) north of Harvard. The community originally extended into Walworth County, Wisconsin, where there is a neighborhood of the same name in the Town of Walworth.
Big Foot was a leader of the Prairie Band of Potawatomi on Kishwauketoe in what would become the U.S. State of Wisconsin.