♪♪ Kohlsdorf: On the eastern side of Wildcat Den State Park rests a National Historic Landmark that has sat on Pine Creek since 1848.

♪♪ The Pine Creek Grist Mill is thought to be the oldest working mill on its original site between the Mississippi River and the Rockies.

The Pine Creek Grist Mill is the third mill that was built by Muscatine County's first official settler, Benjamin Nye.

He would put his thumbs in his suspenders and -- and claim to everyone in "town" that this was going to be the finest mill ever constructed, and it obviously is, because 175 years later, she's still standing.

♪♪ In the middle of the 19th century, there were between 400 and 450 grist mills throughout the state, and now this is the only operating grist mill left.

But the importance of preserving it is to show people the state of the art, the state of the economy for settlers coming into the Wisconsin territories at the time before Iowa became a state and to show them how life was, how business was transacted from an agricultural standpoint.

Kohlsdorf: Visitors can experience firsthand how the mill operates, take a splash in the creek below, stroll across 150 year old bridge and explore unexpected geological wonders.

Pappas: In Wildcat Den State Park, there are several hidden gems that the state has to offer the public.

In the center of the park itself is a 300-million-year-old sea coral rock formation that actually served as the bed of an inland prehistoric ocean.

Obviously, the ocean has gone away now, but the coral formations that are left behind are truly stunning.

Shoppa: The park itself is beautiful.

It's a beautiful place to come out and rest and relax and reconnect, and there's so many things to see if you just slow down and are willing to take it in.

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