Before there was New Glarus — before the Swiss colonists, the fur traders, and even the French and British maps — this valley was home to generations of Native peoples whose lives were intertwined with the land for thousands of years. This November, during National Native American Heritage Month, we might take a moment to remember those who walked the ridge trails, fished the Little Sugar River, and shaped the land long before it bore the name New Glarus.

Archaeological evidence shows that Indigenous people have lived in what is now Green County for more than 12,000 years. They came as the glaciers melted, following herds of mammoth and giant bison across newly opened prairie. Over millennia, the land softened into the familiar patchwork of oak savanna, prairie, and river valley we know today. Here, along the Little Sugar River, they built camps, raised families, and shaped the land long before the first fences or survey stakes appeared.