Blue Mounds, WI

Blue Mounds is a Dane County village about 25 miles west of Madison, next to the Town of Blue Mounds and close to the state park that marks the highest point in southern Wisconsin. French missionaries named the village for the bluish cast of three nearby mounds. The Military Ridge State Trail follows a former railroad right-of-way through the village, and Blue Mounds is the starting point for the annual Horribly Hilly Hundreds ride. Blue Mound State Park, Cave of the Mounds, Brigham Park, and Mounds View Park fill out the nearby map. Blue Mounds is a Madison-area village where a geological name, an old rail line, and a serious bike ride all meet.