Tremper Mountain in Ulster County New York was, in the 1700s and early 1800s, the site of extensive blue stone quarrying. The stones were used for building and paving before cheaper and/or easier to use materials replaced them. Because of this, I looked on most of the piles of rocks we ran across on our hike as tailing rather than ceremonial piles. At one point, however, we came to an area with piles that seemed different. The pile above, for example, appeared to have a manitou stone leaning against it.
This was an area of about 30 stone piles, all on boulders, in a flat place near the edge of a cliff, about three quarters of the way to the top of the mountain or maybe even closer.
The pile above includes a stone with an oddly-shaped edge, set upright so the odd edge is facing up.
The pile above shows what appears to be a layer of older rocks with others that seem to have been added later laid on top of them.
As with most of the places where ceremonial rock piles are found, many natural but unusual rock formations occurred here, as with this (much taller than it looks!) rock wall with holes created as conglomerate rock was weathered and stones cemented in it fell out. It looked like a sort of Mesa Verde for gnomes.
There were also a few of these effigy-like rock formations that, while probably natural, would not have gone unnoticed by earlier inhabitants.
I have forgotten to post a more interesting face rock that I found close to the rock piles, so I'll post it in a second post.
Tremper Mountain in Ulster County New York was, in the 1700s and early 1800s, the site of extensive blue stone quarrying. The stones were used for building and paving before cheaper and/or easier to use materials replaced them. Because of this, I looked on most of the piles of rocks we ran across on our hike as tailing rather than ceremonial piles. At one point, however, we came to an area with piles that seemed different. The pile above, for example, appeared to have a manitou stone leaning against it.
This was an area of about 30 stone piles, all on boulders, in a flat place near the edge of a cliff, about three quarters of the way to the top of the mountain or maybe even closer.
The pile above includes a stone with an oddly-shaped edge, set upright so the odd edge is facing up.
The pile above shows what appears to be a layer of older rocks with others that seem to have been added later laid on top of them.
As with most of the places where ceremonial rock piles are found, many natural but unusual rock formations occurred here, as with this (much taller than it looks!) rock wall with holes created as conglomerate rock was weathered and stones cemented in it fell out. It looked like a sort of Mesa Verde for gnomes.
There were also a few of these effigy-like rock formations that, while probably natural, would not have gone unnoticed by earlier inhabitants.
I have forgotten to post a more interesting face rock that I found close to the rock piles, so I'll post it in a second post.
1 comment :
Thanks for posting this.
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