Tucked in an area near Baraboo, Wisconsin, Skillet Creek cut a 30 to 40 foot narrow canyon through the Cambrian sandstone, forming a series of potholes and waterfalls in an area called Pewits Nest. The name came from a mid-1800s eccentric mechanic who built his workshop into the cliffs using the creek to power a water wheel to turn lathes for repairing or manufacturing equipment. This dwelling resembled the nest of a phoebe (or peewit, an earlier name for this bird), hence dubbed by early settlers the ‘Peewit’s Nest.

On my visit to the ‘nest’ in the fall, the small flow of water wouldn’t turn a big water wheel as the average flow is .8 cubic feet per second (unlike Niagara Falls which is 85,000 cfs) but the gentle current caused fallen leaves to swirl around. There is no remaining evidence of the workshop and the state officially designated the natural area as Pewits Nest in 1985.

Pewits Nest