James Gage discusses Mystery Hill

Hi Peter,
In a previous posting, an issue was raised about the reconstruction of Mystery Hill site (a/k/a America's Stonehenge). I would like to address this issue in some detail.
The first modern alteration to the site occurred in the early 19th century when Pattee built a small house on top of the ruins of the sunken courtyard area. The construction involved the addition of one foundation wall, the construction of a brick chimney, and household refuse disposal. The next two alternations occuring in the mid-1800's and in 1916 with two separate quarrying operations. Modern literature on the site says as much as 40% of the site was quarried and hauled off. This estimate is badly inflated. Ongoing research demonstrates the quarry damage was minimal (for a full report see http://www.stonestructures.org/html/quarrying.html ). In the early 20th century, the town of Salem sealed up several of chambers for safety reasons. The Oracle chamber entranced was sealed and the watchhouse chamber was filled in. Vandals enlarged an opening on the east side of Oracle chamber creating a new entrance (currently the exit entrance on the self-guided tour). In the 1930's William Goodwin purchased the property and began formal archaeological investigations. Goodwin has been much maligned in the literature for his archaeology and preservation practices of the site. Criticism that is sadly misplaced. Goodwin hired a crew of experts to work on the project. He brought in professional archaeologists, a professor of architecture, profession photographer (Malcolm Pearson) to document all the work, and professional stone masons to stablized the stonework. The use of multidisciplinary research team was unheard of in the 1930's and 1940's. Goodwin was 20 to 30 years ahead of his time in this respect. Goodwin's crew cleared accumulated debris from the site, excavated and sifted removed soils, and documented their work. Goodwin's crew restored the top portion of the Tall Wall, the top portion of the Mensal Stone structure, and east end of East-West chamber. The restoration work on the East-West chamber was the only errorenous restoration work. This is understandable given the this portion of the structure was badly damaged by the quarriers. Overall, Goodwin's preservation, stablization, and restoration work was remarkable conservative. Many of restorations problems currently seen at the site date from the 1960's through the 1980's after Goodwin had sold the site. A brief run down on the restorations problems. The Sundeck, specifically the passage structure on top of it is incorrect in its current configuration. This structure never had a roof. The courtyard like area adjacent to oracle chamber alcove is formed by a L-shape wall. A photo from 1900 does show evidence of a short section of wall extending a few feet from the entrance to alcove but it never extend as far is currently is. This restoration work was done in the 1980's. The area between the mensal stone, the V-hut, and a enclosure is currently missing several stones shown on early site maps. In addition, two large stones in the area have been moved several times and are not in their correct positions. In addition, the central wooden platform for viewing the astronomical alignments is incorrect (For more information see http://www.stonestructures.org/html/solar_alignments.html ).
In summary, the Mystery Hill has beend altered by preservation and restoration work. The quality of that work varies greatly. However, careful study of archaeological reports, old maps and photos of the site, and physical evidence provides the researcher the necessary tools to sort original stonework from the later repairs. Despite the damage, stablization, preservation, and restoration work the central building complex retains much of its original configuration.
In addition, it is important to point out that entire site covers approximately 100 acres. Besides the famous central building complex, the site contains stonewalls, a cairn field, outlying standing stone features, at least two springs, and many other smaller but important ceremonial features. Much of these outlying features are in a remarkable state of preservation.
James Gage www.StoneStructures.org