I spent my entire life with no idea that the city of Madison was home to a 1,200 acre arboretum (with an addition 513 acres in outlying properties). It shouldn’t surprise me, given most cities have large parks and my own UW campus houses an arboretum, as well. I’d just never stumbled upon it – and you’d think 1,200 acres would be hard to miss.
But then my friend started working there, and little by little, he taught me about it. Like how the goal, from the beginning, has been to re-establish historical Wisconsin landscapes and offer a refuge from the city. Or how there is a species of cactus that is native to Wisconsin (whaaaat?). And when I checked to see if he was around because I was coming to the city, he asked about my reason for heading his way, and I quietly noted that I was coming to Madison for research for my murder mystery WIP and was looking for places to ‘drop bodies’ – he taught me about the Lost City Forest. (Um, the what now?)
The Lake Forest Community of the 1920s promised a neighborhood equipped with a thousand lots, street-car service, playgrounds, utilities, and a school – but the land had other ideas. Building began, and then began to sink. The plan was abandoned, and some of the land became part of the arboretum – who left the city alone. Nature’s gonna Nature, after all.
Today, the remains of this idea are known as the Lost City Forest. Walk along the paths, and you can see cracked foundations beneath the dirt and leaves. There are still glass bottles and rusted utensils strewn about some of the remains. But trees have long since grown back, and moss covers just about everything in sight.
He was right – this would be an excellent spot to drop a fictional body.
Ami Maxine 