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Park along Delavan Lake site of a preserved effigy mound

DELAVAN TOWNSHIP — Community Park was chosen as the location for Native American Heritage Days because it was recognized in June 2007 as a Native American burial site, said Steve Schoff, park manager.

The park has one conical mound and the remnants of a large bird-shaped effigy mound, first surveyed and identified in 1924 by the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Two other areas in the park mark where mounds once stood; other mounds were obliterated over the decades by road construction, weather and farming.

Because conical burial mounds were used by native cultures from 500 B.C. to the 1800s, they are difficult to date precisely, according to archeologists at the Wisconsin Historical Society.

But effigy mounds, with bird, animal and abstract shapes, date from A.D. 700 to 1300.

These mounds may have been part of an Indian village located on the northeast shore of Delavan Lake.

A survey conducted by Beloit College in the late 1800s revealed that more than 200 mounds were constructed on the shores of Delavan Lake. Many were along the north shore of the lake, where Lake Lawn Resort now stands.

Thunder Ruthven, one of the heritage days coordinators, said the event serves as a reminder to preserve and protect the mounds, a sacred site to tribes like the Potawatomi, which lived in the area.

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Read the full story in the Oct. 3, 2010 e-edition of Walworth County Sunday, HERE.