The next time you are walking on Picnic Point, consider looking for some of the cultural artifacts and sites that make the history of this area so fascinating.
I recently had the privilege of walking with Daniel Einstein, one of the people managing the Cultural Landscape Resource Plan for the UW Madison, who showed me some things you might look for.
What You Can Find
• The partially exposed brick walkway of the house pictured which belonged to E.J. and Alice Young from 1924 until it burned in 1935. Apparently, the fire started in an upstairs playroom, possibly from faulty wiring of a new electric train set. To get to the house site from the entrance to Picnic Point, go through the metal gate and follow the road uphill past Bill's Woods. Turn right at the first fork and left at the second fork. The partially unearthed walkway is in the woods area on the left (look for the area with the least understory) across from the small metal silo.
• The foundation of the Caretaker's House that burned in the 1970's. At the time of the fire, graduate students who evidently owned a snake were living in the house. The story is that after being told they could not keep the snake in the house, they moved it to an adjacent garage or storage building. To keep the snake from freezing they ran a cord from the house to a heater with disastrous results. Apparently, the cord shorted out and started a fire, which spread to the house and totally destroyed it. As you continue walking toward the prairie area the foundation is the concrete slab on the left. Information on the Caretaker's House, which may have been converted from Youngs' garage and stables, is limited. If anyone has pictures or information on this site, please contact Daniel Einstein (608 265-3417 or deinstein@fpm.wisc.edu ). 
Old Farmhouse Before Remodeling by the Youngs ca 1920 (UW Archives CPU-U0027)
• The cornerstone of the old University Law School and the stones from the Lew Porter House on the corner of State and Park Streets. (This house was later expanded into the old Administration Building.) The Law School cornerstone has a 1891 date on it and is on the left. If you look carefully to the right, you will see many pieces of "Madison Sandstone" which were saved from the old Lew Porter House for possible repairs to Bascom Hall and North and South Halls. To see these stones, take the middle path just beyond the Caretaker's House, and keep bearing right. You will go by three "wooded islands" between the Biocore Prairie and the woods that go down to the lake. Near the end of the third "wooded island", you will find the cornerstone on the left and the sandstone pieces on the right.
What You Won't Find on Picnic Point
• The remains of Captain Boeringer's "Refreshments and Dancing Hall" located on Picnic Point in the 1860's.
• The three hole golf course laid out in 1899.
• All of the houses that could have been built here based on a residential housing plat drawn up in 1922.
If you could find these, this area would not be (to quote Daniel Einstein) an oasis in "the heart of a growing campus or a sprawling metropolitan area" where we can "find a little quiet and reconnect with the natural world."
 Historical Sites Near Picnic Point (T Brock)
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