Oldest of the Apple Trees

Jan. 31, 2012

Above: serpentine stone row, looking east toward the Oldest of the Apple Trees

at the site of "The Wigwams" of 1659-17??

Curtis woodcut illustration in

Cothren's History of Ancient Woodbury CT 1854

More: http://wakinguponturtleisland.blogspot.com/2012/02/oldest-of-apple-trees.html

Are these Native American? From a 4000 acre n.e. Kentucky Farm

Reader Jason W. writes:
There are about 15 or so rock piles fairly close to each other, the stone wall is the only wall ,it is about 2 foot high,3 or so feet wide,and at least 75 feet long. it is in a desolate area located on top a steep mountain ,where it flattens out....the location of my finds is approximately 8 miles from the ky serpent mound.
The piles are all on one side of this wall, and are within feet of each other, its about a 2 hour walk to the site,but will try to get more pics. my other pics didn't take, but i remember the rock wall definitely having an s shape to it. the guy i was with was certain it was native american,but u are the experts not us. i wish to know this so to preserve it, that is my only intentions.

Found at the bottom of the hill:

Revisiting Dakins Brook - Estabrook Woods Concord, MA

I did revisit the site at H, so let me also revisit the map of several sites about the headwaters of Dakins Brook in Estabrook Woods. The location of H is changed and the higher site on the way down from Boaz Brown's (L) is labeled H'.As mentioned, these sites are all along the edges of the valley of the brook. So now that's straightened out, here is a pile from H. I am struck by how these different piles have different basic designs and show different degrees of decrepitude. So this pile, at a lesser degree of decrepitude than the simple ovals up the hill at H', is more elongated and, arguably, has a "tail" in the form of the two larger rocks, adjacent.

A few yards away, yet another style of pile, this one is rectangular (judging from the presence of a corner) and in even better shape:I dream of chronologies from oval to rectangular.

A small site above the birthplace of Dakins Brook

Although I said I was not going to do any more exploring last weekend, I did take a short drive and walk with my wife over at Estabrook Rd. But we stayed to the left and I aimed for where I remembered finding a site at the headwaters of Dakins Brook in far western Estabrook Woods [which I blogged about here...scroll down.] But I got a bit confused between the landforms and the waterways in there and found myself, instead, at a familiar place - the Boaz Brown cellar hole. So from there I figured I would head down hill, further west, to get to that site at the top of Dakins Brook and, wouldn't you know, Estabrook revealed yet another small secret to me. I found three very old oval piles built against the slope. These are so forlorn and hidden I am thinking seriously about going back and cleaning them off completely. Three little bumps. Those are big piles, about 10 feet across. So old. I think these should be compared with other piles from the same slope, as mentioned in the link above.

Update: If you take into account all the sites I have found in this part of Estabrook Woods, they are all at the edge of the higher rockier ridges, about equidistant from the middle of the valley which, today, has the nice Mansions along Estabrook Rd. I make out that these sites are from a corn growing culture. I label this new site H' on the revised map.

To explore or not to explore

Hmmm. Another beautiful warm January day with a hazy sun. But I already found one site this weekend. Overpowered by laziness....cannot quite reach the....

Nice colors

Out Crop, Stone Row, and Heavy Machinery

In a perfect world, I could post a link to the post about the stone mound with the small turtles and the white quartz hammerstone that is still stained brown at the business end of it, as well as all the stone rows up on that terrace in the upper left of this photo.

In a perfect world I could find the folder with the photos of that stuff and a before photo of this row and the outcrop from a little less than a year ago, but I can't right now.

In a perfect world those machines in the lower right corner wouldn't be able to just destroy that ancient row so thoughtlessly and needlessly and nobody bats an eye or sheds a tear - except for me and you.

Before it became the hamburger and edge of town, I used to play army with a friend in this very spot, site of the first car dealership on Straits Turnpike in Watertown CT...

5 Minutes later: http://rockpiles.blogspot.com/2010/11/volvo-car-lot-edge.html

http://rockpiles.blogspot.com/2010/11/quartz-stone.html

http://rockpiles.blogspot.com/2010/11/rockpile-on-hamburger-edge-of-hometown.html

SRAC blog

by theseventhgeneration
Susquehanna River Archaeological Center of Native Indian Studies (SRAC) recently posted about Spanish Hill. That article was published as the lead article in the New York State Archaeological Society's Newsletter. Click here for the announcement, which contains a link to the pdf version of the NYSAA newsletter and a link to the original blog post.

Stone Heap by Golf Course

Near the Western Hills Golf Course - near Park Road in Waterbury (or possibly Middlebury) CT

It was once part of a Deer Park I wonder about sometimes: http://wakinguponturtleisland.blogspot.com/2008/01/im-still-wondering.html

Rock Pile - Sebago Maine

Reader Rob S. also writes:

I have another to share with you. I was tickled pink when I found it in October.

Ohio Archeology

Norman Muller sends some interesting articles:

Ohio Archaeology [click here]
Serpent Mound [click here](PDF)

One of these rock piles is not like the others.

Reader Rob S. writes:
Hello everyone:
I thought I'd help to get our minds off the snowy woods:

On the afternoon of the seventh of this month I went to Poor’s Hill to see if I could find anything; it’s located next to Peabody Pond in Sebago, Maine. I finally did stumble upon some rock piles nested in one of the hollows of the hill. Most were low to the ground and could barely be discerned from the snow and leaf litter.One, however, stood out from the rest. It was taller and I could make out a green bucket from under the rocks. I lifted one of the rocks, but there was nothing to see but ice. The rock was put back in place. I believe it was used to lure in bears for some hunter. I intend to go back in the spring to see if there’s more to be found nearby.