The Chesrow site is a Paleoindian archeological site located on south Sheridan Road, north of 104th Street. The site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in August of 1977. It is one of two large, concentrated, prehistoric habitation sites known as the “Sand Ridge sites.”

Some of the earliest mentions of the Chesrow site in literature were made by Lyman (1916) and Gerend (1904). Gerund noted that the site in Pleasant Prairie is the southernmost extensive lake shore site situated in Kenosha County to be bordered by Lake Michigan and extend a distance of some miles southward. The area is covered with sand banks and hollows where remnants and relics of Paleoindian occupancy were recovered. Studies have determined that the sand banks and ridges of this area were actually remnants of the various beaches associated with the glacial stages of Lake Michigan.

In 1987, Pleasant Prairie purchased land near the site in order to construct a sanitary sewer project. The community commissioned an archeological study, because a portion of the proposed right-of-way crossed a portion of the archeological site. The sanitary sewer project in this area was not initially constructed.

Instead, archeologists developed a research design and began excavating the land in the summer of 1988. They continued through the fall of 1989 and recovered previously undisturbed archeological deposits. Tools, including complex drills and cores, hammerstones, flake tools, cutting and scrapping tools, and projectile points, were found. One partiular chipped stone tool recovered, a Paleoindian fluted point, was dated to ca. 9500-8000 B.C.

Credit for this story is given to Case Studies in Great Lakes Archeology Number 2 - Chesrow A Paleoindian Complex in the Southern Lake Michigan Basin by David F.Overstreet, 1993.

If you would like to contribute to local stories, collections, or other “Peeks at the Past,” you can reach the Historical Society at [email protected] or (262) 947-3600.