For countless generations, people have come to this place on the banks of the Minnesota River. Physical evidence throughout the park reflects a deep human connection to the land, from ancient woolly mammoth hunts along the edge of retreating glaciers, to hallowed burial grounds on the fringe of a thriving Dakota village, to a colonist-era ferry crossing and a re-created 1880s river town assembled here in the 1970s. This place is alive with natural and cultural history shaped by many different people and cultures over millennia.