Under foot, under investigation: ‘What’s Under the Villa?’ to precede construction project for the mansion

By Steve Van Kooten

People walking around St. Feriole Island and the Villa Louis Historical Site should get in the habit of looking down; they may be stepping on a piece of local history, according to Dr. Amy Rosebrough, Wisconsin's state archaeologist.

Rosebrough, who obtained a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2010, will give a free presentation to the public called "What's Under the Villa?" on May 10, starting at 10:30 a.m. Interested participants should meet at the Brisbois Fur Warehouse on St. Feriole Island.

"It's basically to highlight what's here. People see the buildings, but they don't necessarily think about why it's on that lump and what that stuff behind it is," she said. "The Villa is just the latest thing, and the archaeology and history here go back 14,000 or more years beneath our feet. It's harder to see 5,000 years ago out here than it is to see that lovely villa."

The presentation is part of Wisconsin's Historical Preservation and Archaeology Month.

"Every year we celebrate our cultural heritage, both the buildings on the historical preservation side and the archaeology, which is everything underneath," she added.

The presentation will also highlight the unseen history of the Prairie du Chien area and how the Villa site helps scientists and historians understand what life was like hundreds — and even thousands — of years ago.

"This is one of the few open-air sites we have where it's that way. Archaeologists love that because everything is in order. The work here has been mostly shallow, so it's here, and we can see bits and pieces of it," said Rosebrough.

"We're working on how we interpret our earlier layers that you don't see. That's one of the reasons for Amy's talk: to continue to highlight that there's more than meets the eye for our rich history," said Susan Caya-Slusser, the southwest sites regional director for the Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS).

Rosebrough's presentation is also part of a larger effort to address concerns for the archeological deposits that exist on St. Feriole Island. Over the past few years, flooding and construction projects led to some "unexpected" discoveries around the Villa. Rain and flooding have started to uncover historical deposits that are just under the island's surface. Near the Brisbois, a square of exposed ground has cultural artifacts poking out of the dirt.

"The flooding is causing an impact, and then there is a better understanding," said Rosebrough. "It caused us to think maybe we should reevaluate a little bit. I think we're just going to see what we've got at this point."

Rosebrough said that Prairie du Chien is "stacked like a layer cake" with bands of history laid on top of each other over thousands of years. 

The Historical Society aims to conduct 26 acres of archaeological testing on the grounds to identify areas that need protection, significant deposits, and areas that can be used for events.

"We have individuals who have been doing ground-penetrating radar looking for parts of the fort, and we're starting to see things in those scans," Rosebrough confirmed.

The tests will use radar and thermal scanning to measure heat to detect deposits underground. The radar testing will be an expansion on scans completed over the past few years.

"Once we're able to get a project going to do the ground-penetrating radar, they'll look for anomalies and then they'll do infrared testing," said Caya-Slusser. "The end goal of this work is for the agency to have a map of where the sensitive areas are, where we should avoid programming and areas where we can have a large-scale event."

Finding some of these deposits will help the WHS "put together a better plan" to both protect and showcase the historical elements on the island.

"Say you've got an old house, and you need to hang a painting. You don't just start randomly hammering; you need to know where the studs are, where the electrical lines are and where the gas lines might be," said Rosebrough. "Once we know what we've got first, then we start planning on how we interpret it, but I would like to see a little more acknowledgement here and there."

While the Historical Society works to get ground testing done on the property, the Villa will also be getting a $3 million restoration, according to Caya-Slusser.

"It's a 246-day project, so it's going to last all season, which means it will have new roofs, foundation and structural work on the veranda, tuck pointing and work on the windows," she said.

The construction is expected to begin in late June or early July and last the entire summer. The roof has not been replaced since the 1960s, and major paint work has not been completed since the 1990s.

"It's taken us a while to get here because it's a huge project for the state of Wisconsin managed by the Department of Administration and Department of Facilities Development," she said. "The Villa is a special site. [There's] so many layers of history here. This is our latest history, and we still need to work to preserve that."

Additional design work will look at the other buildings that contribute to the site's historical status. Part of the design concerns flood protection for buildings, landscape changes and incorporating the archaeology into the site's story.

The historical society consulted the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to make improvements to the landscape and replace vegetation that is affected by the flooding.

Caya-Slusser confirmed there will not be a War of 1812 reenactment this year and that large-scale events will be paused until they can review their potential impact.

"We're going to do our best to remain open while this project is taking place, but this is taking a lot of our attention because the whole mansion is going to be a construction zone. At one point, you're only going to be able to go into the kitchen and exit it," she said. "It's WHS pausing and being the best stewards that we can for this property."

So, whether you're taking an island jaunt or exploring the area's rich history, mind your step and keep your eyes open. Otherwise, you might end up with a bit of history — and hopefully nothing else — on your shoe.

For more information on “What’s Under the Villa?” and other events at the Villa Louis, visit https://villalouis.wisconsinhistory.org/upcoming-events/.

To learn more, contact the Wisconsin Historical Society at wisconsinhistory.org. The state archaeologist can be contacted at 608-264-6494 and at statearchaeologist@wisconsinhistory.org.

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During a walk on St. Feriole, Rosebrough stopped at a small patch of bare earth behind the Brisbois house. She sifted through the dirt, picking up a rib bone barely concealed under the surface.

"With the rains, this stuff is coming up right now, and we're collecting it because we don't want people to walk off with it, and we don't want people stepping on a rod or a nail," she said. "This is a window to what was happening at the Brisbois House. This kind of shows what life was like there."

Behind the Villa Louis, she pointed to a turquoise piece of crockery sitting on top of the dirt.

"With these floods, with the vegetation down and with no protection for the site, this is the stuff we're starting to see and worry about," she said.

Artifacts lose much of their archaeological value when they're removed from their burial spots without meticulous documentation.

"You can answer a lot of questions with a small artifact: what are they buying locally, how far are they importing things, medicine bottles and what they were eating," she said. "Often, you'll find stuff from this time that was imported from France intermixed with a lot of locally made products."