Beaver Brook State Park, Windham CT

Thought it would be worth exploring the valley south of Beaver Hill and, for some dumb reason, I thought my wife and I would have the easiest walk in from the north. We followed that dotted line down from the top of the map fragment:

I did not realize we were trespassing most of the way. Up top, there was a solitary niche, which I took to be ceremonial:

[The colors are so much brighter on a sunny day.] We proceeded south, into an area of stone walls and an old house foundation. A beautiful and remote place in the hills of eastern CT. 

Sadly, we were slogging through thick undergrowth when the old road (the dotted line) disappeared into black birch saplings. Then we were slogging through knee deep blueberries. Then we were slogging through waist deep cinnamon ferns. Fresh out of a pandemic we were not in shape for it. In fact, the purpose of taking a drive and trying some more ambitious hikes was partially in order to get back in shape. The ferns were wet and my wife started getting a blister. So, although I had hoped to descend into what looked like a great rock pile hunting spot, we thought it was wiser to give up and go back the way we came. I was worried that, if we missed the top of the old road, we would have to slog through even denser growth to get back to the car, so I retraced our steps very carefully and it worked out.

Fall is upon us, at least since there has been such a severe drought.

Back as we crossed the hilltop, these two standing stones were a few feet apart and seemed related:

Otherwise we saw no evidence of ceremonial stone work. Enough to be puzzling. [Some of the larger boulders looked like they had been moved a bit.]

We had spent the night at "The Inn" in Mansfield and, just before leaving the room, I noticed a Bible in a drawer next to the bed. Thinking it would be fun, I opened to a random spot and read a verse - you know "Sortes Biblicae"-kind of idea. The verse was about the Israelites casting down all the works of the Nephrim (or Asherim or some such earlier religious people). It mentioned at some length that the Israelites were systematic and destroyed all the things they could find: temples, statues, etc. As with most things in the Bible, the stories are generic enough to apply to almost anything. But as we are walking through the woods, seeing nothing but an old house foundation and walls, and I am wondering what happened to the stonework that I expected to find up there, the biblical story came to mind. The systematic erasing of all the "devils work" is a traditional activity. So maybe that is what happened here. It would be fun to find that verse again (I tried and failed, back at home) because it is an idea that might  explain some of the empty woods in areas that should have rock piles.