MONONA/REINDAHL MOUND
(Lake Edge Park Group)
4009 Monona Drive
The Monona/Reindahl Mound is the only one surviving to this day out of this group that used to contain another club-shaped mound and two conicals. The mound, wedged between two developed lots, was originally mapped as a “club form” – a conical with a long, tapering tail. It is thought to be a linear mound with a conical one at its end. The Reindahl Mound is catalogued as a burial site, the first mound so designated by Wisconsin’s burial site preservation law.
This mound may have been used as a spring equinox sunset calendar. The mound seems to be pointed just a bit north of west. The orientation of the centerline of the mound corresponds to where the last glimmer of the sun would set on a non-obstructed horizon between the first and second day after the spring equinox.
Located at 4009 Monona Drive, near the former site of prominent Monona resident Knute Reindahl’s house, you can see the mound stretching towards the lake. Don’t leave the sidewalk and approach the mound because it’s on private property.
A new historical marker to commemorate the mound was dedicated and unveiled in August 2019. It was installed at the mound site in late July 2020.
Sunset aligned with Monona/Reindahl Mound on the spring equinox
(evening of March 21)
