Putnam County, New York

By Geophile

Here's a picture of a large chamber, nicknamed the 'King's Chamber,' in Putnam County New York. These chambers, there are many in the area, seemed essentially different from the stone work I'd seen other places, and I wonder if they were built by the same people.

I had a whole CD of pictures from our visit to Putnam County almost two years ago, butright now the CD is missing and this is the only picture I have stored on the computer. The people in the photo are, left to right, my son, Jonas Wisser, Pat Dundore, and Earl Dundore. Pat and Earl were kind enough to take us with them on that trip, during which we also visited the North Salem dolmen, which I'd wanted to see for decades.

We saw many chambers. Earl and Pat knew the area well. But my impression was that the chambers were not as old as many of the stone structures I've seen elsewhere, and that they were of a different style. It made me wonder if there was any history of a religious group that broke off from society, or of slaves who had escaped and built these chambers to live in or store things in. Some stones showed drill marks.

Whatever their history, the chambers were impressive, beautifully built and numerous. There was also an area that seemed to me to be a sort of meeting area, a sort of open-air hall, complete with stage or platform area, all formed from natural stone formations enhanced by placed stones.

For the most part there was a dearth of the kinds of formations we have seen here, but I did find some rock on rocks not far from a couple of the chambers. The difference between the patinas on the stones was very noticeable, and the structures did not seem to be connected by any markers or structures. They may have been, but if so, my eye did not catch it. I would have guessed that the chamber builders didn't even notice the subtler stone works, but I may be wrong.

At any rate, it was a great trip, and I thank Pat and Earl for their generosity and good company. Their site is linked to the right by just the the words 'Stone Structures'. If I ever find that CD I will post more.