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Make the Journey: Selected Mound Sites Open to the
Public Unless otherwise noted, all sites are open year-round and there is no admission charge. Barron County Rice Lake Mound Group Open: May 1 to October 10 Twelve mounds of the Rice Lake Mound Group are preserved in Indian Mounds Park, a city park on the shore of Rice Lake. The group once consisted of fifty-one conical burial mounds, apparently built after about A.D. 500. The mounds were spread over a quarter mile of lakeshore. Some mounds were excavated in the nineteenth century by the Smithsonian Institution during its search for the identity of the mound builders, while others were excavated in the 1950s. Many were obliterated by city expansion.
Calumet County Calumet County Park Contact: Calumet County Park, located on the eastern shore of Lake Winnebago, is approximately two miles north of the community of Stockbridge. Six effigy mounds with lower world water iconography—panthers of water spirits—are situated on top of an escarpment that overlooks the lake. High Cliff State Park Open: 6:00 A.M. to 11:00 P.M. High Cliff State Park is situated along the scenic limestone cliffs of the Niagara Escarpment, paralleling the eastern shore of Lake Winnebago, south of the community of Sherwood. An effigy mound group, which once included a bird, an animal (probably a bear), a large concentration of water spirits or panthers, and small conical mounds, is on the edge of the escarpment, overlooking the lake. The large number of water spirit mounds is characteristic of the many mound groups once found on the eastern shore of Lake Winnebago and in eastern Wisconsin in general. Six of these long-tailed effigies as well as several conical mounds are included in an interpretive trail at the park. The mounds at High Cliff were first featured in Increase A. Lapham's Antiquities of Wisconsin.
Kingsley Bend Mound Group A portion of the Kingsley Bend Mound Group is preserved in a highway wayside approximately three miles south of the community of Wisconsin Dells. Originally there were at least twenty-two conical, linear, and effigy mounds. As is characteristic of many effigy mound groups in south-central Wisconsin, the forms are symbolic of the three natural realms of air (bird), earth (bear), and water (water spirit or panther). A highly stylized long-tailed water spirit or panther effigy as well as several linear and conical mounds are preserved in the wayside. Other mounds of the group are on private lands nearby. One of the individuals who brought the site to public attention in the late nineteenth century was the prominent photographer H.H. Bennett, of Wisconsin Dells. Dane County 
Madison, with its surrounding lakes, was the center of mound building in Wisconsin. Between 800 B.C. and A.D. 1200, Native Americans built more than 1,500 mounds in the Four Lakes area. A large number of them were preserved over the years through the efforts of Charles E. Brown of the State Historical Society and other area residents. Baum Mound Group The Baum Mound Group, preserved in Goodland County Park, consists of three linear mounds and once conical mound. They are located along both sides of the main park road from the park sign to Lake Waubesa. Burrows Park Burrows Park, a small park on the shore of Lake Mendota, contains a reconstructed bird effigy mound with a wingspan of 128 feet. A second effigy, a fox or canine-like animal, was destroyed. The bird was damaged early by looting, but was restored by workers for the Works Progress Administration under the direction of Charles E. Brown. Edgewood Mound Group Twelve mounds of the Edgewood Mound Group are preserved on the campus of Edgewood College. A linear mound and six conical mounds are visible along Edgewood Drive. The remains of two linear mounds are near the library, and on the other side of the library is a large bird effigy. Finally, two conical mounds can be seen near the playground. Edna Taylor Conservancy Six linear mounds and a panther or water spirit effigy mound are located on a high glacial drumlin at the Edna Taylor Conservancy. Two very long linear mounds, one of which was more than 700 feet long, follow the crest of this hill, but were shortened by highway construction and farming. The four other linear mounds and the panther effigy are on the northwestern slope of the drumlin, part of which was sliced away by residential development. Elmside Park Hudson Park Elmside Park and Hudson Park were created to preserve three effigy mounds during the course of residential construction in the early twentieth century. The mounds were part of a dense cluster that extended from the Yahara River to Olbrich Park. Giant birds, one with a wingspan reported to have been 568 feet, were once found on a hill to the northeast of Elmside Park, overlooking Lake Monona. Elmside Park preserves two animal effigies: a bear and what has been referred to as a lynx. It also contains Let the Great Spirits Soar, a beautiful tree-stump sculpture by Harry Whitehorse, a local Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) artist. Water spirit or panther mounds were once found in a low area to the southeast, where one is preserved in Hudson Park. Farwell's Point Mound Group Portions of two large mound groups are preserved on the grounds of Mendota State Hospital, located on the northern shore of Lake Mendota. The Farwell's Point Mound Group includes a number of large conical mounds, part of a linear mound, and a bird effigy. These mounds evidently were built over a 1,000-year period. The large conical mounds are believed to have been built during the Middle Woodland state, about 2,000 years ago, while the bird effigy and the linear mound date to the subsequent Late Woodland stage. The Mendota State Hospital Mound Group, located to the east of the Farwell's Point Mound Group, contains some of the finest and largest effigy mounds preserved anywhere. Included are three large birds, two panthers (one with an unusual curved tail), two bears, a deer, several conical mounds, and one of indeterminate shape. One of the bird effigies has a wingspan of 624 feet. The deer effigy is unusual because four legs are depicted. To see the mounds, check with the staff in the administration building, which is the first building on the right after entering the hospital grounds. Forest Hill Cemetery Established in 1858, historic Forest Hill Cemetery is the final resting place of many of Wisconsin's most prominent citizens, including eight governors. Among the more modern graves is an effigy mound group that consists of most of a goose, two water spirits or panthers, and a linear mound. The head of the bird effigy, which is on a slope that leads, appropriately, to adjacent wetlands, was removed when a railroad was built through the area in the nineteenth century. Part of the tail of one panther and three additional linear mounds were
destroyed during the early development of the cemetery. Efforts by Charles
E. Brown of the State Historical Society saved the remaining mounds. Fittingly,
Brown himself is interred at Forest Hill. His grave can be found in Lot
1 next to a large granite monolith bearing a single word: ARCHEOLOGIST. A brochure for a self-guided walking tour of Forest Hill Cemetery is available at the offife. Governor Nelson State Park Open: 6:00 A.M. to 11:00 P.M. The 422-acre Governor Nelson State Park is located on the northern shore of Lake Mendota in Waunakee. A group of five conical mounds and a large panther or water spirit effigy mound are located in the park. The conical mounds probably were built during the Middle Woodland stage, while the effigy was added later. A stockaded Late Woodland village was located to the north of the mounds, in the vicinity of the showers and toilet near the beach. Native American cornfields were planted in this area, which also was the site of an eighteenth-century Ho-Chunk village. Lewis Mound Group This late Woodland mound group is located on the hill overlooking Lake Waubesa in Indian Mound Park. Called the Lewis Mound Group after Tollef Lewis, the nineteenth century owner, it consists of a bear effigy as well as two conical, two linear, one oval, and one "hook"-shaped mounds. The unusual last mound probably was meant to represent the curved tail of a panther or water spirit, or a snake. Local volunteers have restored the mounds and rerouted trails so they no longer pass over the mounds. Observatory Hill Mounds Directly to the west of the observatory on the campus of the University of Wisconsin, overlooking Lake Mendota, are the Observatory Hill Mounds: a bird effigy and an unusual two-tailed water spirit effigy. One tail is barely visible, and the other was destroyed. The mound may actually represent two water spirits placed back to back. Paired effigies are found at several other mound groups, such as that at Lizard Mounds County Park in Washington County. Two other mounds, a long-tailed panther or water spirit and a linear, were located downslope, but were destroyed by development of the campus. A plaque erected in 1914 incorrectly states that the Ho-Chunk built the mounds 500 years ago. The mounds are almost certainly at least 1,000 years old. although they indeed may have been erected by distant ancestors of the Ho-Chunk and related tribes. Outlet Mound The large conical Outlet Mound was one of nineteen mounds overlooking the outlet of Lake Monona. Probably built 2,000 years ago during the Middle Woodland stage, it is a good example of a mound of that era. Most of the other mounds in the group, one of which was excavated and radiocarbon dated to 50 B.C., were destroyed. The Outlet Mound was purchased with funds raised by Charles E. Brown and the Wisconsin Archeological Society to save it from residential development and then was donated to the city of Monona. Picnic Point Mounds On the south shore of Picnic Point, halfway to the tip of the peninsula, are two linear and three conical mounds. Near the tip is a conical mound. The Picnic Point Mounds, on the campus of the University of Wisconsin, were preserved and restored in 1939 through the efforts of Charles E. Brown of the State Historical Society. University of Wisconsin Arboretum Two late Woodland effigy mound groups, including a bird, a panther, and
linear and conical mounds, are located on both sides of McCaffrey Road
at the University of Wisconsin Arboretum. One group is situated right
above several prominent springs that were considered sacred by Ho-Chunk
who camped in this area in to the twentieth century. Among other things,
springs were considered entrances to the watery under world realm of the
water spirits. These groups were restored by Charles E. Brown of the State
Historical Society. Vilas Park The Late Woodland effigy mound group in Vilas Park consists of a bird effigy, a linear mound, and six conical mounds. Two additional conical mounds and another bird effigy were destroyed. The plaque at the site is an example of the preservation efforts undertaken by Charles E. Brown and his colleagues at the Wisconsin Archeological Society. Vilas Park Circle The small Vilas Park Circle was created to preserve a large effigy mound of a bear, which is located on the west side of the circular park. This mound was once part of a large group that included seven linear mounds and a conical mound. The group was undoubtedly constructed during the Late Woodland stage, between A.D. 700 and 1100, but the bear may have been reused for a burial in more recent times. In the early twentieth century, children digging in the mound found the remnants of an eighteenth- or nineteenth century steel sword. Dispossessed Ho-Chunk and other tribes frequently buried their dead in ancient mounds, and this sword, obtained from Europeans or Americans, possibly accompanied such a burial. Hornung Mound Group Located in an unusual place for an effigy mound group—away from large bodies of water—the Hornung Mound Group was not discovered until 1987. It was subsequently mapped during a project to identify mounds in Dane County, and the land was purchased by the state as part of a conservation program on the lower Wisconsin River. The site is located on Roxbury Creek, a small tributary of the Wisconsin River, one mile southeast of Sauk City. It is characteristic of mound groups in Dane County and south-central Wisconsin in that it contains bird (sky), bear (earth), and water spirit (water) forms. In this group, the three realms are neatly segregated, with the bird on the far north, the bear 300 feet to the southeast, and several long-tailed water spirits or panthers across the creek to the south. Several linear mounds and an unidentified, damaged effigy accompany the water spirit mounds.
Upper Wakanda Park Mound Group The Upper Wakanda Mound Group consists of three large oval mounds located in Wakanda Park on a ridge overlooking Lake Menomin, a widening of the Red Cedar River. Seventeen other mounds were located below this ridge, but were flooded when the construction of a dam in the 1950s elevated the water level of the lake. Before their inundation, fourteen of the mounds were excavated. Burials and stone concentrations, or "alters," were found in them. One of the burials was of an individual who had been cremated while wearing a clay face covering or mask. The custom of placing clay coverings or masks on the faces of the dead has been documented at only two other mound sites in Wisonsin: the Cyrus Thomas Mound Group on Rice Lake and the Outlet Mound Group on Lake Monona. The lower Wakanda mounds were radiocarbon dated to sometime between A.D. 1000 and 1400. The Upper Wakanda Park Mound Group could date to that time or earlier.
Wyalusing State Park is located near Prairie du Chien on the high bluffs overlooking the broad floodplains at the confluence of the Mississippi and Wisconsin Rivers. High vistas offer spectacular views of the rivers and surrounding countryside. The area was very attractive to Native Americans because of its beauty, bounty, and strategic importance. Twenty-one mound sites have been recorded in the park, once totaling more than 130 mounds. In the 1880s, Cyrus Thomas of the Bureau of Ethnology at the Smithsonian Institution investigated several mounds in his search for the identity of the mound builders. In 1909, Charles E. Brown of the State Historical Society, assisted by the Reverend Drexel and Robert Glenn, mapped most of the mounds in the area. Among the groups mapped was the Signal Hill Mound Group or "Procession of the Mounds"--a single line of mounds, including conical, linear, and one effigy, that follows the crest of the bluff. In 1911, the Wisconsin Archeological Society chose Prairie du Chien for its annual assembly, "to make known the deep interest of the Society in the proposed Mississippi-Wisconsin River state park of which it has been for several years an advocate," according to Brown. Before the park was established by the state, though, many of the mounds were destroyed by farming or stone quarrying. However, sixty-nine mounds survived and are carefully preserved, including the "Procession of the Mounds." At least two separate periods of mound building are represented at the park. Thomas investigated several large conical mounds and found burials in stone crypts, one with shell beads, a copper celt, and a stone platform pipe. These characteristics suggest construction during the Middle Woodland stage. Most mounds, however, appear to have been built during the Late Woodland state. They consist of small conical mounds, linear mounds, and several types of effigy mounds, including bears and other animals, several long-tailed water spirits, and compound or chain mounds, which, like the bear effigies, are common in this region of the Mississippi River valley.
Avoca Mound Group The Avoca Mound Group is located in Lake Side Park and campground on the shore of Avoca Lake, a backwater slough of the Wisconsin River. This mound group includes six linear and four conical mounds that may have been part of a larger group. It is undated, but probably is Late Woodland.
Aztalan State Park Open: May to October, 7:00 A.M. to 9:00 P.M. Located on the Crawfish River, just south of the modern village of Aztalan, Aztalan is the premier archeological site in Wisconsin. Between A.D. 1000 and 1200, this large Native American town was home to a group of Missippian people who had migrated from Cahokia in what is now southern Illinois. The Missippians built earthen platform mounds and fortified the site with a huge timber and clay wall. Beginning in the 1920s, the site was extensively excavated, and tow of
the four platform mounds as well as segments of the wall have been reconstructed.
To the northeast of Aztalan is a line of large conical mounds that mark
the locations of ceremonial posts as well as the burial of a young woman
who apparently was a member of the Missippian elite. General Atkinson Mound Group The southern part of the General Atkinson Mound Group is preserved in the Jefferson County Indian Mounds and Trail Park, south of the community of Fort Atkinson. These eleven mounds consist of tapering linear, conical, bird and "turtle" mounds. The turtle mounds may actually represent panthers or water spirits as viewed from above, rather from the side. The mounds range in length from 75 to 222 feet. The General Atkinson Mound Group originally consisted of seventy-two mounds, many of which were destroyed. The park includes an Indian trail that was documented by a land surveyor in 1835. In 1993, Hugh Highsmith of Fort Atkinson purchased the land containing the eleven mounds and, in cooperation with the Fort Atkinson Historical Society, donated the land to Jefferson County. Panther Intaglio Just west of downtown Fort Atkinson, along the northern side of the Rock River, is the last remaining intaglio in Wisconsin. It was discovered by Increase A. Lapham in 1850 and is one of only about a dozen intaglios recorded in the state. It was once part of a large effigy mound group that was destroyed by residential development. The 125-foot intaglio is a scooped-out area in the form of a water spirit or panther about two feet deep. The excavation of this reverse image of a panther mound may be related to the fact that such water spirits were believed to originate in a watery realm below the surface of the earth. In 1919, the Fort Atkinson chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution leased the land to preserve the intaglio.
Indian Mounds Park Open: Closed in winter Indian Mounds Park, on the Lemonweir River on the south side of New Lisbon, preserves a mound group that consists of three conical mounds, two linear mounds, a compound or chain mound, and a water spirit or panther effigy. Originally, there were at least seven other mounds, which have been destroyed. Chain or compound mounds are rarely found outside the Mississippi River valley. Some of the mounds were reconstructed by the Lion's Club of New Lisbon.
Lake Park Lake Park, on Lake Michigan, preserves one of the few remaining mounds in Milwaukee. The low conical mound is located on a high bluff overlooking the lake in the northeastern corner of the park. It is two feet high and forty feet in diameter and was one of a number of like-size mounds that were once in the park area. The mound is undated, but is believed to have been built during the Middle Woodland state, between 300 B.C. and A.D. 400. Lake Park is significant both because of the mound and because of its more modern but unique landscape, which was designated by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted.
Northern Highlands/American Legion State Forest Fees: Daily user fees At the Indian Mounds Campground in the Northern Highlands/American Legion State Forest, about two miles north of the community of Lake Tomahawk, are four conical burial mounds. Typical of mounds built in northwestern Wisconsin during the Woodland, they can be viewed in the picnic area adjacent to Lake Tomahawk.
Devil's Lake State Park Fees: State park and recreation fees Devil's Lake State Park, located three miles south of Baraboo, preserves a number of effigy mounds that represent both the upper world and the lower world. The Ho-Chunk name for the lake is Tamahcunchukdah, or Sacred Lake, which was mistakenly given an evil connotation and translated as Devil's Lake. According to Ho-Chunk tradition, the famous bluffs were created during a battle between the thunderbirds and the water spirits. The effigy mounds in the park reflect this tradition. A 150-foot-long "fork-tailed" bird effigy is located on the southeastern shore of the lake. It is also possible that this mound form represents a "bird-man," combining characteristics of a bird and a human being. Effigy mounds at the northern end of the lake are from the opposing lower world and include a bear, an unidentified animal, and a water spirit or panther. Man Mound County Park Only one effigy mound in the shape of a human being has survived nearly intact. It is located near the base of a high hill in Man Mound County Park, to the northeast of Baraboo. Probably built more than 1,000 years ago, this huge mound is in the form of a walking man who has horns or is wearing a horned headdress, such as a buffalo-horn headdress, which was characteristically worn by Native American shamans in more recent times. The mound was first reported by W.H. Canfield in 1859 during a land survey. It was featured in a short article written by Increase A. Lapham during a land survey. It was originally 214 feet long, but road construction in 1905 destroyed the feet and lower legs of the figure. The remainder of the mound was saved from damage by the Wisconsin Archeological Society and the Sauk County Historical Society, which purchased the mound in 1907. It is now the centerpiece of a county park and can be viewed from an elevated platform.
Sheboygan Indian Mound County Park Open: April 1 to November 1 Sheboygan Indian Mound County Park, located to the south of Sheboygan,
preserves what was first known as the Kletzien Mound Group. The group
originally consisted of thirty-three conical and effigy mounds, primarily
deer and panthers, as well as one panther or water spirit intaglio. A
number of mounds were excavated in 1926 by the Public Museum of the City
of Milwaukee.
Lizard Mounds County Park Open: April 1 to November 1 One of the most unusual effigy mound groups in Wisconsin is located in Lizard Mounds County Park, northeast of West Bend. The mound group originally contained approximately sixty mounds, dominated by long-tailed effigy forms that early investigators thought were lizards. They are undoubtedly versions of water spirits or panthers. Over the years, many of the mounds were obliterated by continued cultivation, and others were reduced to a point where they are no longer visible. When archaeologist Kermit Freckman mapped the site in detail inn 1941, thirty-one of the sixty mounds remained. There are now twenty-nine. The preserved group consists of five conical mounds, one oval mound,
eight linear mounds, two tapering linear mounds, two symmetrically paired
"bird" effigies, and eleven panther effigies. The location of
the group is unusual. It is on a low, level plateau far from any major
body of water. The plateau is, however, surrounded by springs, which have
many spiritual associations for Native Americans and are entrances to
the underworld of the water spirits. Thus the location and underworld
theme of the group may have been determined primarily by landscape features
that have spiritual connotations.
Cutler Park Three conical mounds preserved in Cutler Park are typical of those built during the Middle Woodland stage, approximately 2,000 years ago. The large central mound is nine feet high and sixty-five feet in diameter. Excavations conducted by Increase A. Lapham in the 1840s revealed that the mound had been built over a large rock-lined burial chamber dug into the ground. Lapham went on to use information from such excavations to argue that mounds had been constructed by Native Americans and not by a mysterious lost race. In 1902, the city purchased the group to preserve it. Waushara County Whistler Mound Group and Enclosure The Whistler Mound Group, located in Whistler Mounds Park on Fish Lake, just east of the village of Hancock, contains one of the few surviving enclosures in Wisconsin, as well as two straight lines of low conical mounds. The enclosure is a low double-walled oval embankment that measures 120 feet by 51 feet. Such enclosures undoubtedly defined sacred spaces where periodic ceremonies were held. The site is believed to date to the Late Woodland stage, between A.D. 500 and 1200.
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