Stone Piers - possible colonial features (from James Egan)

I wanted to write a short note and show some pictures Jim Egan had in his talk at the NEARA conference. The talk focused on a colonial era house foundation which he believes was an early trading post in Connecticut. The house was high above a cliff/steep hill in a difficult to reach spot and this might have been in order to defend the location. A few feet below the house on the slope were two rock piles - rectangular and with deliberately level surfaces. What were they for? Possibly for trade goods, possibly as cannon placements, possibly as foundation support for out-buildings. There were several possibilities and all made a certain amount of sense outside of the context of ceremonial rock piles - which I tend to emphasize on this blog. So for the record, here are some stone "piers" which may well have had a colonial practical purpose. These are probably not ceremonial.

[Photos by James Egan]