MOUND GROUP There are several burial mounds located in the upper Vilas Park area near Erin St. A survey from 2007 shows the Vilas Park mounds location (Figure 5.148). In April of 2010, the City of Madison Parks Division made a request to the Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS) to disturb catalogued and uncatalogued portions of a human burial site at Vilas Park Mound Group (WHS project number DA-0148 and BDA-0270). More recently, The Vilas Park Investigation Study of Potential Archeological Adverse Effects, was completed in 2018 by a team of Cardno environmental consultants and is the most current study of the Vilas Park mounds.82
Figure 5.148. Compilation Topographic Survey of Vilas Park Mounds Area (City of Madison - 2018)
According to the September 1915 addition of the The Wisconsin Archeologist83 there were several more mounds prevalent in the Vilas Park addition. Charles Brown was the Secretary and Curator for the Wisconsin Archeological Society and well respected for his work in identifying mounds. In the document there were several features in the Vilas Park Group. Those were the Vilas Park Mound, Village Site and Lewis Effigy. Increase A. Lapham initially surveyed the mounds in Vilas Park in the 1859. A significant amount of mounds in what is identified as the Dividing Ridge (Figure 5.149), between Lake Monona and Lake Wingra were 82 83
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Vilas Park Investigation – Study of Potential Archeological Adverse Effects, Cardno, October 2018. The Wisconsin Archaeologist - Lake Wingra, Wisconsin Archeological Society, Milwaukee, WI, September 1915
VILAS PARK MASTER PLAN 2020
