Bean Porridge Hill Rd - Westminster MA

Just past Potato Hill Rd, heading north on Bean Porridge Hill Rd, there is a stretch with the stone walls on either side of the road, a swamp to west and a brief shoulder and a gradual slope down hill to the east. I thought I spotted some rock piles behind the wall on the west side, and could not decide if they were from an orchard that was in evidence nearby. In the end there were quite a few rock piles in the area, too many, and too diverse to be purely from an orchard...but the thought remained. Actually this is the common impression up here in northern Westminster, including Muddy Pond [see here, etc]: that the piles are barely distinguishable from farm related piles. But I believe it is deceptive and that some of the oldest piles may be the ones easiest to mistake for being agrarian.

Here we see a stone wall on the left, leading down to a swamp. Several piles lie along it. Then a field-clearing like combination of a pile, another pile with bigger rocks, followed by a mound and another rock pile, all kind of in a row. This was impossible to photo because of obstructing foliage. So here is part of it, including the pile, larger rock pile, and moss covered stone mound in the background. And here is the rock pile just beyond the mound, really with its feet in the water, at the edge of the swamp:And here is another view of the first piles leading up to the mound:I try in different ways to convey this, but I think these are old rock piles. Sniffed around some more in the bushes at the edge of the swamp figuring there ought to be more and, yes, there were another couple of piles hidden in there. The colors are pretty but it is hard to get good information in that light.That all was on the west side of the road. I found more old piles on the east side of the road.