[4] The bluff overlooks the downtown area and towers about 400 feet (120 m) above the Mississippi River with an extensive view of Lake Pepin to the south.

The aggregates left by glacial drift and wind-deposited loess form a 20 metres (66 ft) cap deposited some 450 million years after the bedrock beneath.

[5][6] Prior to the arrival of European settlers, the bluff was used for sacred ceremonies for a number of Native American groups, most recently the Dakota who refer to it as He Mni Can ("Hill, water, wood").

[7] There are ancient burial grounds dating back to A.D. 900-1300, located on top of the bluff and it is considered one of the most sacred places to the Dakota people.

[7][2] In the early 1800s, He Mni Can was the Dakota village site of Khupahu Sha (Red Wing), population of 300, who left the area in 1853 after signing the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux.

According to missionary Joseph W. Hancock, who observed in 1850 a false alarm where the Dakota thought an Ojibwe attack was imminent: "all the men gathered their weapons of war and took their canoes and were soon out of sight, in some hiding place along the river.

He described the view from Barn Bluff, writing, "The most beautiful prospect that imagination can form [...] Verdant plains, fruitful meadows, and numerous islands abound with the most varied trees.

"[10] Stephen H. Long climbed the bluff during his 1819 mapping expedition, describing it as, "From the summit of the Grange the view of the surrounding scenery is surpassed, perhaps, by very few, if any, of a similar character that the country and probably the world can afford.