Goodspeed Family Pier

A magnet for nighttime relaxation since opening in 2013, the pier honoring the family of Mary Sue Goodspeed Shannon ’81 replaced the aging stone-and-concrete structure below the Alumni Center.

Swimming isn’t permitted near the pier (the Memorial Union has a swimming pier nearby), but these two undergraduates still used it as a jumping-off point to greet the sunrise over Lake Mendota last summer.

Up to seventeen boats can tie up at the dock, made of massaranduba — a hard, reddish wood from Central and South America that’s also known as bulletwood. In season, the pier is open from six in the morning to midnight.

The pier has more than 330 feet of boardwalk and will link the future Alumni Park — a gift to the campus from the Wisconsin Alumni Association — with Lake Mendota when it opens later this year.