Point Basse, a French term meaning "low point" or "shallows," lies in what is now the Wood County township of Saratoga. For thousands of years Native Americans crossed the Wisconsin River here at the midpoint of a trail running east and west from Lake Poygan to Black River Falls, and mounds built 700-1,000 years ago by these early residents stand north and south along the river. Albert Ellis, Surveyor General of Wisconsin, considered Point Basse the premier location for a settlement because the river provided water access and the Pinery Road between Portage and Whitney's Mill at Nekoosa provided land access. To the south, the Wisconsin River was open to watercraft all the way to the Mississippi River, and beginning in 1844 steamboats carried supplies, lumber, and passengers. Point Basse became a rendezvous site for Indians, voyageurs, lumbermen, and raftsmen, as well as a social center for local residents. After arriving in 1837, Robert and Mary Wakely built a tavern, inn, and trading post here, along with piers, a shingle mill, warehouse, and barn. For a time the place was called Old Ferry Farm because a cable ferry operated from this point to the west bank of the river until 1916, though early residents and travelers knew it as Wakely's Tavern. In 1974 the site was placed on the National Register of Historic Sites, and in 2001 the stone arch bridge was added. In 1986 Historic Point Basse was formed as a nonprofit organization to continue developing this pioneer settlement as an educational resource for the public, and between 1986 and 2009 the remaining house structure was restored while a fur traders' cabin, three bay shed, blacksmith's shop, chicken coop, and barn were added as representative structures of the Wakely era.