Shadewald Mounds

(Elder Group or Shadewald Groups I & II)

National Register of Historic Places

 

Shadewald Mound Group (sometimes called Elder Group) is absolutely best preserved group I've ever seen. Thanks to Frank Shadewald,

who purchased the land with the sole purpose of preserving the mounds and who takes care of maintenance of this group, there is no

other group of mounds I know of that could compare with Shadewald as far as the state of preservation goes. Mr. Shadewald beats any

local, state or federal government hands down when it comes to taking care of our historic heritage.

  There are two clusters of mounds out there. One is located on top of Frank's Hill (above) and consists of, among others, an eagle and a

bison effigies.

  The other cluster is on top of the hill just across the road from Frank's Hill (below). It consists of 12 conical mounds in almost perfect linear formation within the same distance of one another. It is thought that the mounds have some calendar meaning. Although I doubt the      NativeAmerican and Roman (with 12 months) calendars had anything in common, events like lunar cycles and solstice are the same all

around the world - and that's where that string of mounds comes in.

Both groupings are located on both sides of HWY193 just north of the intersection with HWY60 west of Muscoda.

 

Breath-taking aerial images of Shadewald Mounds below are courtesy of the Cultural Landscape Legacies, Inc.