Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin

The Town of Prairie du Sac is located in southwestern Sauk County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,138 at the 2000 census. The Village of Prairie du Sac is located within the town. The unincorporated community of Loddes Mill is also located in the town.

Sauk–Prairie Airport (FAA LID: 91C) is a privately owned public use airport located 2 miles (3 km) west of the central business district of Prairie du Sac and 3 miles (5 km) northwest of the central business district of Sauk City, two adjacent villages in Sauk County, Wisconsin, United States. Sauk Prairie, Wisconsin, is the nickname for the two combined communities. The airport is included in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2021–2025, in which it is categorized as a general aviation facility.Although most airports in the United States use the same three-letter location identifier for the FAA and the International Air Transport Association (IATA), this airport is assigned 91C by the FAA but has no designation from the IATA.

Otter Creek is a stream in Sauk County, Wisconsin, in the United States.Otter Creek was named after the otters seen there by early settlers.

Honey Creek is a stream in Sauk County, Wisconsin, United States. It is a tributary of the Wisconsin River. It was so named because early settlers collected the honey of bees there. It also lends its name to the town of Honey Creek.

The August W. Derleth House, also known as Place of Hawks, located at S10431a Lueders Road in Sauk City, Wisconsin, is the former home of author August Derleth. The house was built in 1939; though early in his career, Derleth had earned some recognition for his writing by this point, having been named a Guggenheim Fellow in 1938. Sauk City architect Leo Julius Weissenborn designed the house, which is a one-and-a-half story stone building modeled after nineteenth-century vernacular farmhouses in the area. Derleth wrote the vast majority of his 150 books while living in the house; he was known for both his horror and fantasy stories and his Wisconsin-based regionalist works. He also founded the publishing company Arkham House, which was originally based in his house's attic and later in a separate building on the property; the company was the first to publish H.P. Lovecraft's works in book form. Derleth lived in the house until his death in 1971.The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 30, 1991.

Sauk Prairie is the nickname for the adjacent villages of Sauk City and Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin. The twin communities are located on the west bank of the Wisconsin River in southeastern Sauk County, where U.S. Highway 12 crosses the Wisconsin River. As of the 2020 census, the combined population of the two communities was 7,938.Although the communities share many commonalities and are often seen as parallel versions of each other, their relationship has sometimes been called a "rivalry" and even a "feud". The consolidation of the two municipalities has been discussed a number of times over several decades but has never received approval. A merger effort in 1939 had too little support to hold a vote. Discussions beginning in 1970 led to a 1972 referendum on consolidation that was approved by voters in Prairie du Sac but rejected by those in Sauk City. In 1983, the Sauk City village board ended months of discussion by voting to table the consideration of a merger. Again, in 1986, the Sauk City Board rejected a proposal to submit the consolidation to a referendum. An advisory referendum, in 1990, to merge the two communities was approved overwhelmingly by voters in both villages, but the binding referendum that followed was approved by only Prairie du Sac voters and was defeated by those in Sauk City. Concerns raised in merger discussions include the cost to taxpayers, agreement on public works projects, and the sense of community identity.The communities operate several joint municipal services, including the Sauk Prairie Police Department, the ambulance service, and a water treatment plant. The Sauk Prairie School District serves both villages. Area businesses and service organizations also use the name, including the local newspapers, the Sauk Prairie Star and the Sauk Prairie Eagle, Sauk Prairie Hospital, Sauk Prairie Airport, Sauk Prairie Area Literacy Council, and the Sauk Prairie Area Chamber of Commerce. The villages maintain separate fire departments, sewage collection systems, and libraries.Sauk Prairie is immortalized in the Sac Prairie Saga, a series of novels, short stories, journals, poems, and other works about the area and its residents written by local author August Derleth.

Salem Evangelical Church in Plain, Wisconsin, also known as Salem United Methodist Church of Honey Creek Township, is a Gothic Revival church built in 1875. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. The congregation, which was formed in 1844, was the focus of the Swiss community.

The Spellman Granite Works is a historic industrial building at 615 Phillips Boulevard in Sauk City, Wisconsin. While it was originally built elsewhere in Sauk City for the Kahn Foundry and Wagon Company, brothers Bill, Harry, and John Spellman purchased it in 1915 and moved it to its current location two years later. The Spellman brothers produced granite monuments and memorials, particularly tombstones and other burial markers. At the time, Wisconsin had roughly twenty granite quarries, and many stonecrafting companies formed to turn rough granite into monuments. The company expanded their workshop in 1921, and continued to grow and mechanize their process over the next decade; by 1945, they had become the second-largest granite monument company in the state. They also played a role in Sauk City's civic life by donating statues for local veterans' memorials and cornerstones for new public buildings. The company continued to use the building until 2005, when it relocated to an industrial park outside of Sauk City; by the late twentieth century, they were the largest of only three granite monument companies remaining in Wisconsin.The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 14, 2015.

Sauk City is a village in Sauk County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 3,518 as of the 2020 census. The first incorporated village in the state, the community was founded by Agoston Haraszthy and his business partner, Robert Bryant.

Mazo Beach is the colloquial name for Mazomanie Bottoms State Natural Area, located in Sauk County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Property along the river was acquired in parcels by the State of Wisconsin since the 1950s to provide a full range of nature based activities including hiking, wildlife viewing, hunting, fishing, and wildlife habitat. Since 1978, the beach and surrounding nature preserve have attracted picnickers and swimming day-trippers to its open and expansive shoreline. The Mazomanie Bottoms encompasses a large area of Wisconsin River floodplain forest dissected by old river channels that are dry except during periodic floods. Silver maple, elm, basswood, and ash dominate the forest; other trees include swamp white oak, cottonwood, willow, river birch, and hackberry. Openings in the canopy due to elm mortality have a dense understory of prickly ash, gray dogwood, buckthorn, and young trees. Ridges of sand support oaks, but the slough margins are nearly pure silver maple. Vining plants and lianas are found in abundance: virgin's bower, wild yam, moonseed, wild cucumber, woodbine, poison ivy, carrion flower, and grape. Sand bars and ephemeral pools along the river add considerable diversity. The forest harbors thousands of migrating birds. Nesting birds include these uncommon species: cerulean (Dendroica cerulea), Kentucky (Oporornis formosus), prothonotary (Protontaria citrea) and mourning warblers, winter wren, and brown creeper. The site has a large woodpecker population and is used in winter by bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). Mazomanie Bottoms is owned by the DNR and was designated a State Natural Area in 1978. Seasonal changes shape the river, thereby altering the beach's size. This along with additional Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) changing land restrictions means the actual beach area changes annually. Camping is not allowed on the sandbars near Mazomanie Bottoms.On a hot summer weekend, the beach may see hundreds of people to include families with children and recreational boaters. In the past, conservation groups have occasionally protested near the beach to ensure it remains open and free to all the citizens of Wisconsin. The clothing optional beach lies along the Lower Wisconsin River, located in the northwest corner of Dane County in the Town of Mazomanie between the Village of Mazomanie and Sauk City, Wisconsin. In 2013, a bill passed closing the beach on weekdays. On March 8, 2016, the DNR closed the beach until further notice, citing illegal activity. The state is updating its master plan for redevelopment of the area, but Mazo beach was left out. Prior to the closure, it had been described as one of the "most popular nude beaches" in the country.

Freethinkers Hall, also known as Park Hall, is a meeting hall in Sauk City, Wisconsin. Designed by Alfred Clas, Freethinkers Hall was built in 1884 for the local Freethinkers congregation, or Freie Gemeinde in German. The congregation had been formed by German immigrants in 1852, and became the last extant Freethinker congregation in North America. It affiliated with the American Unitarian Association in 1955. The group meets in the hall to this day.

The Battle of Wisconsin Heights was the penultimate engagement of the 1832 Black Hawk War, fought between the United States state militia and allies, and the Sauk and Fox tribes, led by Black Hawk. The battle took place in what is now Dane County, near present-day Sauk City, Wisconsin. Despite being vastly outnumbered and sustaining heavy casualties, Black Hawk's warriors managed to delay the combined government forces long enough to allow the majority of the Sauk and Fox civilians in the group to escape across the Wisconsin River. This reprieve was temporary; when the militia finally caught up with the fleeing band it resulted in the Bad Axe massacre at the mouth of the Bad Axe River.