It is easy to dismiss such heavily-used parks like Menotomy Rocks Park -- they're simply too disturbed to find any conclusive evidence. A swamp that was once here, for example, was dug out and turned into a farmer's irrigation pond in the 19th century. That pond is used today for ice skating.
But I still wanted to see what kind of ancient evidence might be left. We know that Indian artifacts were indeed found in this park many decades ago. But might there still be something here? The very top of the most prominent rocky hilltop in the park is littered with small loose stones. After talking with a geologist familiar with the park, he could offer no solid explanation for how all this loose rock got up here.
There are also many hints that piles or structures were once here, like the following two piles.
And then there was a curious row of boulders that climbed up and down this prominent hilltop:
I was left with the impression that what I was looking at were the remains of an ancient stonework complex on a comparatively large scale. It appears the structures that once stood here may have been toppled during the Puritan era, and then over the following generations the stones were picked through for use in surrounding foundations, cellars, outbuildings, and stone walls as Arlington moved into widescale subsistence farming.Do I know all of this for certain? Definitely not. It is merely conjecture on my part. But when you combine the Native history with the colonial history, and put together a picture of what this place might have been used for in ancient times, I think there is little doubt this was a very sacred spiritual site. And the possibility that stonework structures once existed here is not too far-fetched. In fact, I think it is the only explanation that makes complete sense -- Devil's Den, talus cave, loose stone, evidence of piles and structures, rows of boulders -- sure looks like it to me.
Damn! Jim, you effortlessly beat me at my own game, finding rock piles further east, deeper into the city than the previous record which is Whipple Hill (or perhaps that other small site in Lexington behind the school). Anyway, congratulations. Short of finding rock piles on Beacon Hill, or perhaps at the Commons, I cannot imagine finding rock piles any closer to the city than this.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I noticed about that "curious line of boulders" is that in a way it resembles the FishWeir near where I live, as well as many other rows of boulders; if the wide end is the front of the turtle and the narrow end the tail, the boulders sort of resemble a row of turtles pointing in opposite directions.
ReplyDeleteOf course I see turtles everywhere, including a spot near Waterbury Hospital (where many artifacts were found during its construction - some of the old Waterbury CT histories include pictures of it as well as mention of some sort of occupation site on the bluff above the city, once know as "Mattatuck" or "No Trees.") I happened on in the late summer of 1997. I brought someone to the eye doctor in a building that once was a factory; there were a series of walls and fences in poor condition at present that separated the factory grounds from an old estate above it. There's a little patch of "wilderness" there, some signs of homeless people camps, and an old spring with traces of stone rows along its raparian zone borders. Some of the boulders, flat and "sharp" sort of stones seemed to be representations of what reminded me of snapping turtles, big carapace stones, legs and heads etc.
I didn't have a camera with me then and perhaps I should return - or at least add it to the "To Do List" of all the places I should revisit...
I really like this article. It conveys a lot that I think is important: rock piles in motion, history, and ceremonial sites almost in the city.
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ReplyDeleteJimP said...
ReplyDeleteA few more things worth mentioning.
This park sits on the side of a much larger hill -- before reforestation there was a spectacular view from the park all the way to Boston to the east.
The hill drops off at a dramatic fault line along Rte. 60 (Pleasant St.) and the park sits above and to the west of Spy Pond. We know from early 20th century excavations that Indian villages were all over the banks of Spy Pond.
A Mastadon tusk was once found in Spy Pond, and it is on permanent display at the Arlington Historical Society's museum at the Jason Russell House on Mass Ave.
No one knows for sure how Spy Pond got its name. However, my research revealed the likely source. The Indians of this area were eventually restricted by land deals to Squaw Sachem's last property, site of the Winchester Country Club today. Following Sqauw Sachem's death in 1650, her descendants were sent to the Natick Praying Indian village.
During King Philip's War, those direct descendants of Squaw Sachem acted as spies for the English. The location of the pond, the fact that it was tidal in those days, and also the fact that it connected to all major waterways in the Mystic River Watershed from Woburn to Charlestown made it a perfect rendevous point. Thus the name Spy Pond.
I produced a video about the history of Menotomy Rocks Park -- but there was no information about the Indians that once lived here because so little was known. I spent several years compiling research on that very subject. You can see that video - devoid of anything Indian - at this link:
Menotomy Journal #3
I grew up in a house whose backyard faced Menotomy Rocks Park from the far end, above the site you refer to. In the 1950's I often explored and played in the area. I was told then that it was Indian ground and the rocks you pointed to where called a village. I also know of the cave, and remember when it was filled in (for safety reasons) in the 60's.
ReplyDeleteFrom my decades of walking in New Hampshire, I've noticed that large piles of small rocks occur at the ends of fields, often in the corners. I've imagined farmers plowing and picking up rocks as they walk behind their draft animals and then discarding them as the plow line turns.
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff! Thanks. I used to play in the park and skate on the pond in the 1950s. Can't contribute any information on its history tho.
ReplyDelete— John O'Leary
my friend killled herself in the pond
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thats all i can offer