Muscoda, WI

Muscoda sits along the Wisconsin River where Grant and Iowa counties meet, in the rolling country of the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway. The village was once called English Prairie and grew with the lead-mining trade, when river traffic made it a prospective port for the hills to the south. The railroad later shifted Main Street away from the river and helped turn Muscoda into the compact crossroads it is now, at Highways 80 and 60. The village name is often translated as Prairie of Flowers, a fitting touch for a town surrounded by river bends, wooded hills, and open farmland.

These days Muscoda wears two hats comfortably: working farm and industrial community, plus a river stop for people who fish, hike, paddle, camp, or chase fall color. The riverbank campground, playground, picnic area, ball field, pool, and Veterans Memorial all sit within the local orbit, while the annual Morel Mushroom Festival gives the town its springtime calling card. Riverdale School District keeps a school presence in town through Riverdale High School and elementary grades. A drive through Muscoda is all about the change in view—highway storefronts, riverbank, rolling hardwoods, then the long curves of the Lower Wisconsin.