Indian Mounds Park (Whitewater, Wisconsin)

For similarly named sites in the U.S., see Indian Mounds Park.

Whitewater Effigy Mounds Preserve (also known as The Indian Mounds Park or as the Maples Mounds Group) is a park operated by the city of Whitewater, Wisconsin. The 21.5-acre park is located on the west side of the city. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.

Description

Whitewater Effigy Mounds Preserve is located on the west side of Whitewater, Wisconsin near Indian Mounds Parkway and Wildwood Road. It is a prehistoric, Native American ceremonial and burial site that dates to between 200 and 1000 A.D. The park contains a collection of animal and geometric mounds. Located on the eastern bank of an old river bed, and among the park's thick native oak trees, the effigy mounds once included a community area with 30 circular huts, inhabited by the mound builders. The 12 (possibly 13) effigy mounds at the site are what survive of this village today. The site continues to be used for Native American ceremonial pow-wows. Entrance into the Effigy Mounds Park is free and open to the public daily.

History

The Effigy Mounds Park in 1995 before recent efforts to clear the park's underbrush. This image displays some of the park's thick native oaks.

The Potawatomi people, after being displaced from their native lands further east, most likely in the mid-17th century during the Beaver Wars, settled in the area now known as Indian Mounds Park and near the Whitewater River, now Whitewater Creek. The area was given this name because of the white clay and sands that collect at the bottom of the river.

When the construction of a U.S. Route 12 in Wisconsin bypass threatened the mounds, a group of local residents convinced the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to preserve the mounds.^[1]

The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.

The Effigy Mounds Park in 1995 before the park's underbrush was cleared. The “Eagle Mound,” in the far left corner, was partially destroyed by farming when Native Americans cleared areas that were later used for agriculture by European settlers.

A walking path in the Effigy Mounds Park in 2008.

Restoration

After regular maintenance, efforts in the park have removed non-native species and other underbrush to return the park to its original state, that of an oak savanna.

Recent plans for the west side of Whitewater by the Whitewater Community Development Authority]show a possible expansion of the park that would include an area north of the park and south of West Main Street. It would include woodlands, wetlands, and space for a playground, playfield and trail. This expansion plan also includes degraded mound remnants southwest of the current park, which would provide a buffer to the existing mounds in the park.

References

↑ Wisconsin Archaeological Society. "Ancient Whitewater Mounds See Rebirth", January 15, 2013.

External links

Pre-Columbian North America

Periods Lithic Archaic Formative Classic Post-Classic

Archaeological cultures	Adena Alachua Ancient Pueblo (Anasazi) Baytown Belle Glade Buttermilk Creek Complex Caborn-Welborn Calf Creek Caloosahatchee Clovis Coles Creek Deptford Folsom Fort Ancient Fort Walton Fremont Glacial Kame Glades Hohokam Hopewell List of Hopewell sites Leon-Jefferson Mississippian List of Mississippian sites Mogollon Monongahela Old Cordilleran Oneota Paleo-Arctic Paleo-Indians Patayan Plano Plaquemine Poverty Point Red Ocher Santa Rosa-Swift Creek St. Johns Steed-Kisker Tchefuncte Tocobaga Troyville

Archaeological sites	Angel Mounds Anzick Clovis burial Bandelier National Monument The Bluff Point Stoneworks Cahokia Casa Grande Chaco Canyon Coso Rock Art District Crystal River Archaeological State Park Eaker Effigy Mounds National Monument Etowah Indian Mounds Eva Folsom Site Fort Ancient Fort Center Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument Glenwood Grimes Point Holly Bluff Site Hopewell Culture National Historical Park Kimball Village Kincaid Mounds Kolomoki Mounds L'Anse aux Meadows Marksville Marmes Rockshelter Meadowcroft Rockshelter Mesa Verde Moaning Cavern Moorehead Circle Moundville Mummy Cave Nodena Site Ocmulgee National Monument Old Stone Fort Parkin Park Pinson Mounds Portsmouth Earthworks Poverty Point Pueblo Bonito Recapture Canyon Rock Eagle Rock Hawk Russell Cave National Monument Salmon Ruins Serpent Mound Spiro Mounds SunWatch Taos Pueblo Toltec Mounds Town Creek Indian Mound Turkey River Mounds Upward Sun River site West Oak Forest Earthlodge Winterville Wupatki National Monument

Human remains	Anzick-1 Arlington Springs Man Buhl Woman Kennewick Man La Brea Woman Leanderthal Lady Minnesota Woman Spirit Cave mummy

Miscellaneous	Black drink Ceremonial pipe Chunkey Clovis point Container Revolution Eastern Agricultural Complex Eden point Effigy mound Falcon dancer Folsom point Green Corn Ceremony Horned Serpent Kiva Medicine wheel Metallurgy Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing Mound Builders N.A.G.P.R.A. Norse colonization of the Americas Piasa Southeastern Ceremonial Complex Stickball Three Sisters agriculture Thunderbird Underwater panther Water glyphs

Related Genetic history Portal of Indigenous peoples of North America Pre-Columbian era

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