Monday, December 11, 2006

Faintest of traces at the Blue Hill Reservation

Supposedly "Massachusetts" means something like "Big Hill" or maybe "massive" "chusett". This is a reference to Blue Hill which is the largest and most prominent hill in Eastern Mass. It is visible from far out at sea and is clearly a major landmark around here - so it should have its share of ceremonialism left over from earlier days. Unfortunately the woods there are completely trashed out - signs of quarrying, old 19th century roads, woods so trampled as to support minimal undergrowth. It has been a city park for too long.

Bruce and I went to do a little exploring at the Blue Hill Reservation, an externsive conservation land surrounding the hill, and ended up finding a few rock-on-rocks here, a solitary rock pile there, a collection of so badly damaged piles that they could have just been ledge rock, fragmented by frost. Anyway, at one point, we came up to a small waterfall and, since in my experience that is good spot to look for ceremonial structures, we looked very carefully there. As you will see, there was one solitary pile marking the location. This is the best we could get from these woods.


Still I have a sneaking suspicion there are rock pile sites somewhere in there. But I just don't have the time to keep looking for them - there are much better places to look out further west. For now anyway, that is it for Blue Hill.

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