Bascom Hill

Rumors

• A UW alum wrote in the alumni magazine On Wisconsin in fall 2006 that while giving a campus tour she became terrified upon visiting the Lincoln statue. She saw two heads behind Lincoln's, both smiling at her.

Possible Connections

• The hill was once a burial ground for native inhabitants
• From about 1837 to 1846 the hill was a cemetery for the first non-native burials in Madison. The remains of two men are still below the terrace that surrounds the Lincoln statue. William Nelson and Samuel Warren were left behind when the other remains were removed, there are small markers on the terrace with the men’s initials and the year of their death:
         

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