Capital Springs State Recreation Area

{{Short description|State Park in Dane County, Wisconsin}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}

{{Infobox protected area

| name = Capital Springs State Recreation Area

| iucn_category = V

| photo = File:Capital Springs State Recreation Area - panoramio (2).jpg

| photo_caption = Capital Springs State Recreation Area, April 2014

| map = USA Wisconsin#USA

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| map_caption = Location of Capital Springs State Recreation Area in Wisconsin

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| location = Dane, Wisconsin, United States

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| coordinates = {{coord|43|1|46|N|89|20|14|W|display=inline,title}}

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| area_acre = 3000

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| established = 2000

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| governing_body = Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

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| website = [http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/parks/name/capsprings/ Capital Springs State Recreation Area]

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Capital Springs State Recreation Area is a state park unit of Wisconsin, United States, in development just south of Madison. The total area of the park is {{convert|3000|acre|ha|sigfig=2}}, with {{convert|326|acre}} designated as a state park. The park was authorized in 2000, the centennial of the Wisconsin state park system. The park includes {{convert|3700|ft}} of undeveloped shoreline on Lake Waubesa. The recreation area incorporates existing Dane County parks, and the site will be jointly managed by the state and the county.

The property includes Native American archaeological sites that were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 as Lake Farms Archaeological District.{{Cite web |date=December 2009 |title=Capital Springs State Recreation Area Master Plan and Environmental Assessment |url=https://danedocs.countyofdane.com/webdocs/PDF/lwrd/parks/Capital_Springs_Master_Plan_Draft.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160819161055/https://danedocs.countyofdane.com/webdocs/PDF/lwrd/parks/Capital_Springs_Master_Plan_Draft.pdf |archive-date=August 19, 2016}} In this area near Lake Waubesa, Early Woodland people lived seasonally, leaving behind remains of fish, mammals, waterfowl, nuts, and pottery fragments.{{cite book|last=Birmingham|first=Robert A.|title=Spirits of Earth: The Effigy Mound Landscape of Madison and the Four Lakes|date=2010|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|location=Madison|isbn=978-0-299-23264-1|pages=55–56}}{{cite book |last1=Salkin |first1=Philip H. |editor1-last=Farnsworth |editor1-first=Kenneth B. |editor2-last=Emerson |editor2-first=Thomas E. |title=The Lake Farms phase: the early Woodland state in south-central Wisconsin as seen from the Lake Farms archaeological district |date=1986 |publisher=Center for American Archaeology Press |location=Kampsville, Ill. |pages=92–120}}