cave-of-the-mounds &laquo; WordPress.com Tag Feed http://en.wordpress.com/tag/cave-of-the-mounds/ Feed of posts on WordPress.com tagged "cave-of-the-mounds" Wed, 10 Feb 2010 04:39:59 +0000 http://en.wordpress.com/tags/ en <![CDATA[Dear Santa Claus...]]> http://theblarg.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/dear-santa-claus/ Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:03:46 +0000 jshady http://theblarg.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/dear-santa-claus/

…thank you so much for the postcard you sent me from Cave of the Mounds!

But seriously, who the hell are you?

Relocating from the North Pole,

-Shady

]]> <![CDATA[Day 2: Road Trip!]]> http://theartofliving365.wordpress.com/2009/06/22/day-2-road-trip/ Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:05:26 +0000 thearbanmethod http://theartofliving365.wordpress.com/2009/06/22/day-2-road-trip/

Today M and I are taking off. We picked west and will stop when and wherever we feel.

Here’s the tentative route; I don’t have more information than that.


View Larger Map

Will post documentation later this evening.

*Update*

We headed west and lunched in Madison at Monty’s Blue Plate Diner.

After some delicious vegetarian food, we found ourselves inadvertently in search of geologic time. Here, Central Wisconsin signals to smudgers in the U.S. West in big way.

At the Cave of the Mounds in Blue Mound, WI we learned that in 1939, while blasting for limestone on homesteader Ebenezer Brigham’s property, workers discovered an intricate cave system beneath the land. It is estimated the rock formations in the cave system formed around 400 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. During this period, warm sea water covered much of the U.S. Sea life thrived in these conditions and over time their shed shells sedimented and hardened into limestone. You can read more about the science of the Cave of the Mounds here.

Tired from our amateur spelunking, we headed back home through Mt. Horeb via the Trollway. We ran into a friendly troll carved by local artist Michael Feeney.

]]> <![CDATA[Singing...in the Cave]]> http://wanderingwisconsin.wordpress.com/2008/12/05/singingin-the-cave/ Fri, 05 Dec 2008 15:02:12 +0000 Bo Mackison http://wanderingwisconsin.wordpress.com/2008/12/05/singingin-the-cave/
cave.jpg

I did something tonight I’ve never done before. I attended a concert underground in a barely lit cave. If you ever have the opportunity to attend a cave concert, go. It was captivating. Cave of the Mounds, located just west of Mount Horeb, offers holiday concerts this weekend only. The Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Music Fraternity from the University of Wisconsin – Platteville did the singing honors on Friday night, and they were wonderful. An all male a capella choir, their voices harmonized beautifully. Cave acoustics are phenomenal.

I spoke with several of the singers after the concert and they all agreed singing in a cave is a great experience. “The acoustics are perfect; we can hear each other with perfect clarity. The only thing we have to remember is not to project. We have to sing much softer,” said one member, a junior majoring in music education. There are 28 men in the fraternity, and 16 sang at the cave concert. About half of the men are studying music, the others are majoring, as one singer said, “in more practical majors.” The young man I spoke with continued. “I’m majoring in construction management. But I’ll be a big financial supporter of the arts.”

The concerts continue on Saturday, December 6 and Sunday, December 7. The cave, a National Natural Landmark, is also open daily for tours. Winter weekend tours leave on the hour from 10 am until 4 pm. One tour is given on weekdays at 2 pm. Call (608) 437-3038 to confirm times. (Spring hours go into effect March 15.) The tours last about an hour. It’s a pleasant place for a family adventure, especially as the weather turns frigid in Wisconsin. The temperature of the cave is always a rather balmy 50˚F.

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