Discover The Hidden Village

Grab your hiking boots and prepare for adventure! Explore Devil's Lake with an experienced trail guide, Derrick Mayoleth, who has been hiking and documenting Devils Lake State Park for more than two decades. Located on the southeastern corner of the park, lost and overgrown in a jungle of tall trees and grape vines is a place we call the Hidden Village. Here are the remains of a place once known as the Lost Village or Shanty Town. First built in the early 1890s, the village housed workers of a once busy quarry on the east bluff of the park. On this 2-3 hour tour, we’ll walk among the abandoned ruins and remains which feel as though they were pulled from a scene in a modern dystopian novel. As we explore we’ll learn about the old quarry’s connection to Chicago’s Loop and how the hidden village played a role in the infamous 1970 bombing of Sterling Hall on the University of Wisconsin campus in Madison, Wisconsin. The walk will last up to three hours, and the terrain will vary from easy to difficult.