A local park, preserved and maintained with the help of a local garden club. Spent an hour or so here this morning with my 14 year old son. He surprised me by asking some very good questions, even saw a few deer.
(Apologies for the exhibit pics, the sun was not on our side for these. The bones are replicated but the
artifacts are real )
Sheboygan Indian mound park.
"Within these fifteen acres of ancient woodland and winding stream lie 18 rare Indian burial mounds, dated about 500-750 A.D. Their prehistoric builders, ancestors of the Wisconsin Woodland Indians, are called the Effigy Mound People because of their mysterious custom of burying their dead beneath mounds shaped like animals, reptiles, and birds. The 5 deer and 2 panthers here are unsurpassed. They also constructed intaglio, conical, and linear mounds, one of which, Mound 19, displays an exposed burial with artifacts. All that is known of Effigy Mound Culture comes from archeological study of such mounds. Many mound groups were found by early white settlers in southern Wisconsin, but few survive intact. These mounds were saved from destruction by the Sheboygan Area Garden Clubs through public subscription, and given to the City of Sheboygan as an archeological park. They were restored and opened to the public on June 25, 1966, dedicated to "Those oldest people of Wisconsin whose love for their home-land kept it green and beautiful and rich in nature's bounty. May we learn to preserve it half as well."
