What's that in the Park?!

Austin Answered's origins lie in the American-Statesman journalistic tradition, dating back to the 1970s. Previous iterations included columns by Ellie Rucker and Jane Grieg, "Austin Found," and "Austin Untold Stories."

Listeners can still access all 87 episodes of that effort [wherever podcasts are available].
— Author, referring to "Austin Found"

The paper's latest installment answers readers' questions about quirky features in Austin parks, like the Taylor Lime Kiln, a mysterious brick structure in Reed Park, and the history of Adams-Hemphill Park's stone drainage channel.

Taylor Lime Kiln
_ Reed Park, Tarrytown
What is this strange structure in Reed Park? According to historical records, it's P.C. Taylor's Patent Perpetual Lime Kiln, built in 1871 by Peter Calder Taylor to produce lime for mortar. The kiln, once fueled by juniper, played a role in constructing Austin and even supplied Galveston.

Here about three miles from Austin, counting the meandering rings of the winding way, all snugged and hidden by hill and hollow, sturdy oak and emerald cedar, we found what is known as P.C. Taylor's Patent Perpetual Lime Kiln. We never should have found it but for the good guide we had in the person of its owner.
— Texas New Yorker, 1874

Adams-Hemphill Park
_ Hyde Park and Aldridge Place
For decades, children in Hyde Park and Aldridge Place enjoyed a secret passage to the Austin State Hospital via a tunnel connected to Adams-Hemphill Park's stone drainage channel. Today, the channel is gated, but the park remains an ideal spot for dog-walking and picnicking.

Henry Madison Cabin
_ Rosewood Park, East Austin
In Rosewood Park, the Henry Madison Cabin, built in 1864, sits alongside the Bertram-Huppertz House. The cabin was discovered within the walls of a house on 11th Street and moved to the park in the 1970s. Henry Green Madison, a farmer and policeman, originally built the cabin, homesteading it with his wife and eight children.

Send your Central Texas questions or answers to "Austin Answered" at mbarnes@statesman.