Pewits Nest State Natural Area

The well-loved site known as Pewits Nest is distinctive not because it was located within the Ancient Glacial Lake Wisconsin, but because it was formed due to erosion as the last glacier melted and the Glacial Lake Wisconsin drained.

The dominant feature at Pewits Nest is a 30- to 40-foot deep gorge formed during the retreat of the last glacier. Associated with it are Skillet Creek, shaded cliffs, and a northern dry-mesic forest. When Glacial Lake Baraboo drained, Skillet Creek cut a narrow canyon through the Cambrian sandstone, forming a series of potholes and waterfalls. The layers of Cambrian sandstone show that a finer-grained sediment was laid down by the Cambrian seas “inside” the syncline, a process different from that at Parfrey’s Glen where coarser Cambrian conglomerates and sandstones are found in layers. Forest cover includes red cedar, white pine, hemlock, and yellow birch.

H.E. Cole wrote of the area:
“At one time the jaws at the mouth of the nest supported a great iron shaft, a cumbersome overshot waterwheel. . . . Before the building of the mill, an individual lived in the solid sandstone, like a gnome in a cavern. His abode was some ten feet above a deep pool of water. This dwelling resembled the nest of a phoebe (or peewit, an earlier name for this bird), hence dubbed by early settlers the ‘Peewit’s Nest.'”

This person used the water to turn lathes for repairing or manufacturing equipment. No evidence of this remains. Pewits Nest is owned by the DNR and was designated a State Natural Area in 1985.

Food and beverage are not allowed in the natural area.  Please help protect this sensitive resource: climbing on or jumping from rocks is prohibited.