Cairns

Jane Scharer, John Scharer

Upon encountering a cairn, many hikers add a new stone to mark their passing. Likewise, these cairns were built as an invitation to people to place stones found nearby. Three generations of the Scharer family participated in building these cairns on a beautiful summer day in July. We hope others added their stones during the exhibit. Cairns: Erected by diverse cultures from prehistoric times to the present and serve a variety of purposes. They are used for marking trails, hunting and defense, land marking, burials and caches, ceremonial and personal expression.

The native stone at the Farley Center is sand that was laid down by ancient seas. The sand has been melded into stone under the great pressures of water and ice by the glaciers that covered Wisconsin. Other local materials are used in the cairns; dolomite from Blue Mounds State Park, stream-polished stones from the Great Lakes, granite stones deposited as the glaciers melted. And as is the practice of mankind, foreign materials have been incorporated–slate, feathers and seashells.