This small zoo is home to an impressive menagerie of animals, including big cats, giraffes, primates and a polar bear that is the centerpiece of the zoo’s plans for a future “Artic Passage” exhibit alongside reindeer and seals. Visitors enter the 100-year-old zoo’s gates free of charge, as demanded by the Vilas family when they donated land for use as a public park in 1904. The zoo is named for their son, Henry, who died at a young age, and his legacy is on display in the ecstatic children who delight in seeing animals large and small and taking $1 rides on the carousel. Because of its small size, travelers can see all the zoo has to offer in 90 minutes and still have time to enjoy a picnic next door in Henry Vilas Park, a large urban green space on the northern shore of Lake Wingra.