Barn Bluff
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MNSearchers
N 44° 34.083 W 092° 31.156
15T E 538172 N 4935080
Barn Bluff is a bluff along the Mississippi River in Red Wing, Minnesota. The bluff is associated with Dakota legend from hundreds of years ago.
Waymark Code: WM4K27
Location: Minnesota, United States
Date Posted: 09/01/2008
Views: 47
During the 19th century, the bluff functioned as a visual reference for explorers and travelers.
Stephen H. Long climbed the bluff during his 1819 mapping expedition, describing it as, "the sublime and beautiful here blended in a most enchanting manner." Explorer Jonathan Carver, describing the view from Barn Bluff, wrote, "The most beautiful prospect that imagination can form, Verdant plains, fruitful meadows, and numerous islands abound with the most varied trees. But above all, reaching as far as the eye can extend, is the majestic, softly flowing river."
The bluff was used as a limestone quarry for about 40 years until citizens protested the defacing of the bluff. The quarrying operation was shut down in 1908. In 1910, the land was donated to the city as a park
The name of Barn Bluff, according to Upham, "is translated from its early French name, La Grange, meaning the Barn, which refers to its prominence as a lone, high, and nearly level-crested bluff, quite separated from the side bluffs of the valley, and therefore conspicuously seen at a distance of many miles up the valley and yet more observable from boats passing along Lake Pepin. Maj. Long in 1817 ascended this hill or bluff, called in his journal "the Grange or Barn," of which he wrote: 'From the summit of the Grange the view of the surrounding scenery is surpassed, perhaps, by very few, if any, of a similar character that the country and probably the world can afford. The sublime and beautiful are here blended in the most enchanting manner.
Marker Type:: City
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