Effigy Mounds National Monument

Effigy Mounds National Monument in Allamakee County, northeast Iowa, protects more than 200 prehistoric burial and ceremonial mounds built between 500 BCE and 1200 CE by Indigenous peoples of the Woodland culture tradition. The monument preserves 31 effigy mounds — earthworks shaped as bears, birds, and other animals — which represent some of the most sophisticated examples of this monumental earthwork form in North America. Administered by the National Park Service, the monument covers 2,526 acres of blufftop prairie, hardwood forest, and river-edge landscape above the Mississippi River in Allamakee County. The visitor center at 151 Hwy 76 in Harpers Ferry provides an introductory film, archaeological exhibits, and interpretive materials on Woodland culture peoples and their ceremonial practices. The Fire Point Trail (2.2 miles round-trip from the visitor center) climbs through deciduous forest to a blufftop overlook with sweeping views of the Mississippi River valley and Wisconsin bottomlands, passing the Great Bear Mound along the way — at 137 feet in length, one of the largest bear effigy earthworks in existence. On the North Unit, reached by driving 3 miles north on Hwy 76, the Marching Bears group features ten bear-shaped mounds aligned in single procession across a forested ridge, a sight unlike anything else visible in the American Midwest. The site is a sacred landscape to multiple Indigenous nations, and all visitors are expected to remain on designated trails and refrain from entering or climbing on mound surfaces. The monument admission of $10 per adult (under 16 free) is valid for seven days; America the Beautiful annual passes are accepted.