Jeffers Petroglyphs

Ron and I stopped at the Jeffers Ptroglyphs on our way home from a birthday weekend in Okoboji Iowa.  It's on some list of places you should see in your lifetime in the midwest.  I really liked the atmosphere...quiet, secluded and spiritual.  It was difficult to see the carvings in the rock because the sun was directly overhead.  Another check off of the bucket list! 

For literally thousands of years, the Jeffers Petroglyphs Historic Site has been an important place for the people who lived here. Before the pyramids were built, before the first stone was erected at Stonehenge, there were carvings in the rock. Long after those first petroglyphs, this was a holy site to the native people who lived in and around this area -- the Iowa, Oto, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Lakota, Dakota, Nakota, and Ojibwe. 

The carvings weren't discovered by European settlers until the 1870s, but since then it has been visited many times by scientists, archaeologists, anthropologists, and curious visitors. 

Several books and articles have been written about the petroglyphs, and in 1966 the Minnesota Historical Society bought the property from W.H. Jeffers to preserve the petroglyphs for future generations.

Kay and Ron

 Far from being a place with all its glory in the past, however, the Jeffers Petroglyphs Historic Site remains a living holy place. Native Americans still come to visit and pray at the site, and visitors are often touched by the peacefulness and power of the place. The staff works closely with Native American elders to make sure that the site is treated with respect and reverence, and we hope you can feel that during your visit.