Saturday, October 28, 2017

Site Found! Schlitz Audubon Nature Center / Fox Point (Milwaukee), Wisconsin

Over the summer and into the autumn, Dr. Pacifico, the School of Continuing and Online Learning (SCOL), and the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center (SANC) explored the potential for a partnership.

As of October 27th we're going to move forward exploring the possibility of future and sustained archaeological research on their property as a partnership between SANC, SCOL, and MCAP.

The SANC lakeside property in Fox Point is known as the former pastureland for the Schlitz Brewing Company draft horses. However, previous to the property's acquisition by Schlitz at the end of the 19th century, the property was the site of several farmsteads settled by European immigrants from areas now part of Germany and the Netherlands. Documentary and archaeological excavation will tell us much about life for the early settlers of this area and the founding of Milwaukee.

Of course, this area was previously settled by American Indian people. The Schlitz Audubon Nature Center site is reported to have been the location of scattered campsites, villages, and workshops and so archaeological investigation on the property could extend our knowledge of local history and original residents even further into the past.