Thursday, August 21, 2008

The original cedar tree and rock-on-rock

On the other side of the Rt 27 uphill from the King Phillips Woods conservation land parking lot in Sudbury, there are a variety of rock piles going up the hillside and, on one level spot, this example of a cedar tree growing next to a rock-on-rock. In fact the cedar tree was old and, I think, dead. But it gave the strong impression that it was planted next to the rock pile, or vice versa the rock pile was made next to the cedar tree. I was trying to find this example and show it to FFC because I saw it before and thought it could be related to the battle between Indians and settlers in the King Phillips war that took place here in Sudbury.

I don't remember where I got this idea but I imagine a connection between cedar trees and memorials to the people killed in battle at these spots. And this Kind Phillips Woods with its battlefield is full of examples, like this one, which I showed the other day.If it is true these tree and rock pile combinations represent a memorial to the fallen then they cannot have been made any more long ago than when those cedars were born. If they are no more than 100 years old that is consistent with accounts of Indians continuing to visit places well into the late 1800's or later - plenty of time to plant trees or put rocks on rocks. It appears they remember this battlefield also.

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