Saturday, June 11, 2016

Barnes Hill and Wrack Meadow - Berlin/Boylston

I thought it would be fun to explore the western slope of Barnes Hill, down to the water. So I walked in from the north until I started tiring, then went back out. This is a big undisturbed woods and I came across something interesting every few minutes. The lighting was bad so most of the photos were blurry. Here are some of the things I came across:

First of all, I don't know what this bush is called but it is a lifesaver:
Whenever I start getting bothered by bugs, if I am lucky I find some of this bush and I wipe my face with the leaves - they have a lovely soapy smell that is a good insect repellent. I call it "soap bush". Anyone know it?
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Next, a number of rock-on-rock, propped rocks, wedged rocks:
 
 

Some quarry remnants:
At one point I saw a rock-on-rock and walked up to it, only to see another slightly further uphill. When I walked to the second, I saw a third uphill. Then I got into a small cluster of rock piles:
 
 
I kept seeing this shape:
 
What about this:
 other side:
Finally a more substantial pile:
 other side:
Right next to this pile was a boulder with the kind of "drill holes" you get using a flat chisel:
 
I have no reason to suppose two types of people here, one making rock piles and another using primitive rock splitting techniques. So I want to consider this rock to be an associated "artifact" that is date-able to the early colonial period.
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The most interesting thing I saw was down right next to the water:
I am not used to such small rocks and their placement is pretty deliberate. Doesn't look like this has been moved since when it was made. I am sorry I did not get the relation to water, which this "looks out over" from the edge.
And also this rock-on-rock way up in the air:
 I have only seen such a thing once before. I do not remember where.

3 comments :

Curtiss Hoffman said...

Peter -
Back in 2008, you posted some information to the blog about a site in this area, at the northern end of Wrack Meadow. Is this a different site? None of the pictures appear to be identical between the two posts.

Tim MacSweeney said...

The shrub: Lindera benzoin (wild allspice,[1] spicebush,[2] common spicebush,[3] northern spicebush[4] or Benjamin bush[2]) is a flowering plant in the family Lauraceae, native to eastern North America, ranging from New York to Ontario in the north, and to Kansas, Texas, and northern Florida in the center and south. (from Wikipedia)

pwax said...

Curt:
Different site
Tim:
Thanks