A reader of my blog named Nick Holland wrote me mentioning seeing a solitary rock pile on the northern slope of Punkatasset Hill in Concord, so since it was only a short drive, I have been saving it for a short walk. Today, Thanksgiving, seemed like a perfect day for it. After getting the bird in the oven I went over to look for the solitary pile. There is another solitary pile not too far away in Estabrook woods and I figured these might be two examples of boundary markers. But when I explored today It turned out there are about 100 piles over there on the north slope of Punkatasett Hill and it turns out to be the largest site in Concord with piles more like cairns than anything else I have seen. What a surprise seeing new piles in Concord! I called FFC with excitement and he said he already knew the place and assumed I knew about it. Well I tell you, finding another major site in Concord is a cause for great celebration.The black dot on the map right below the "d" in "Turtle Pond" is about the lowest pile on the slope. They continue uphill for 100 yards covering an area of several acres. I could not get over my surprise at seeing so many new piles in Concord. My first reaction is captured a bit by this video clip:
And then I wanted to take a panorama to show the pile density:
I walked around criss-crossing the site trying to understand its size and nature. Mostly it consisted of ground piles with a few burnt rocks. But there were also larger boulder supported piles, which also contained bits of burnt rock.***************************[to be continued]***************************
I ride my bike through here often. Cooll blog.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this. I am a follower of Larry Hancock's Ancient Vermont FB page and so enjoy seeing these old sites. Also, I just wrote a poem about Hawthorne in Concord, and, thanks to your work, was able to use the rock piles as an image.
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