My fascination with Indian mounds began early, although it was not a particularly educated or respectful introduction.

I grew up in Hudson, and the hills overlooking downtown were my playground. I could walk out my back door and by only crossing three streets (and sneaking through a few backyards), I could be at Birkmose Park, where six conical burial mounds overlook the river valley.

Despite a bronze plaque embedded in stone proclaiming they were “Prehistoric Indian Burial Mounds,” the mounds were not well attended. There was no effort to protect them from kids like me treating them like an obstacle course, wearing paths as we ran or rode bikes up and over them.

Sturdy chains now protect the mounds from youthful indiscretions, but there is still no effort to put this small example of the larger and important Midwest Mound Culture into perspective.

So while I’ve been aware of the existence of the mounds nearly all my life, I had no real clue as to the varied and fascinating stories behind them until a dozen or so years ago when my friend, the late Bob Lieske, was showing me around his hometown of Sheboygan.

Bob took me to Sheboygan Indian Mound County Park. We spent several hours walking the wooded paths that weave around the 16 mounds, mostly effigy mounds symbolizing important players in the indigenous culture like panthers and deer. Descriptive signs provide context.

I was hooked.

Some background: It’s estimated that there were between 15,000 and 20,000 mounds in Wisconsin when European explorers first arrived. They date from 800 BC to around 1200 AD.

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It is quiet. i am alone with just the vaguest knowledge of how and why these earthen shapes came to be. but i am certain this is a sacred place.

Various Indigenous people were not only creating their own mounds but sometimes interacting with other groups, leading to the wide variety of mound-type structures that still exist. They include conical mounds often used for burials, linear mounds, effigy mounds, and even ceremonial platforms.

There are still some 4,000 mounds in Wisconsin. A fair number of them are nearby.

The Rice Lake Mound Group once consisted of 55 conical burial mounds. 12 survived, preserved in the city’s Indian Mound Park.

Wakanda Park in Menomonie has three large oval mounds on a ridge, just a short walk from the ballfields. 17 other mounds were located below the ridge but were destroyed when the dam was built and raised the lake level.

And Lake Wissota State Park hosts a “lone long-tailed water spirit or panther effigy,” according to book “Indian Mounds of Wisconsin.” (It’s hard to find, but it’s there.)

I’ve visited many mound sites. This summer my wife and I spent time at Aztalan State Park, site of a remarkable town that once covered 15 acres and features restored platform mounds similar to the famous Cahokia site near St. Louis. (I once took a detour on a road trip so I could stand atop Cahokia’s Monks Mound.)

There are platform mounds overlooking the village of Trempealeau and conical mounds in nearby Perrot State Park.

One site in particular moved me. On a return visit to Effigy Mounds National Monument in Iowa, I asked the ranger about the Sny Magill Unit, which has the largest concentration of mounds but is located miles from the main park.

I received some hand-written directions. Drive south about 10 miles before turning onto an unmarked, one-lane dirt road leading to a gravel parking lot that serves a boat landing. There is a gap in the fence – again, there are no signs – revealing a mown path.

It’s a flood plain, mostly grasses and trees and level as a tabletop. The path opens to a 141-acre field containing about 100 mounds. It resembles a park, with a neatly mown lawn, except for the mounds where the grass is left to grow, enhancing their definition. The conical burial mounds are laid out in neat rows, with a few effigies of birds and bears interspersed.

There are no interpretive signs, no benches or any other evidence of development. It is quiet. I am alone with just the vaguest knowledge of how and why these earthen shapes came to be. But I am certain this is a sacred place.