I’m hoping you can help with a conundrum. For the last 30 years, I’ve been mining the old rock piles on my farm, abandoned around 1910, for building uses. Each pile we turn over inevitably contains an old leather shoe near the bottom of the pile. It’s always been a puzzlement, but today I found a shoe in a pile on another piece of property, and felt the need to finally put the question out there to someone who may have heard of this. I always assumed that it was some kind of ritual from the old country. The settlers here were largely from the British Isles, and moved into this area in the mid-1700’s after Prince Philip’s war had died down for some time. The deeds and surveys date from the original proprietors granted the land by the king. One can’t know for sure, but some of the piles are likely 250 years old. The oldest ones are invisible except to the practiced eye. I now take it for granted that a shoe will be under every one.
Friday, August 31, 2012
Putting a shoe under every rock pile
A reader Barry W. from ME writes:
To me, it is a ritual involving rock piles. This fits into the patter of Native American ritual with rock piles but I never heard of using shoes. There was an old new england custom of putting a shoe over the door. I cannot remember if it was protection from witches or what.
ReplyDeleteAlthough this doesn't answer your question, I found something similar in NY a while back. Click here for a link to that post. The last photo is a shot of what I think is a shoe leather, although it's tough to tell from the picture because it's rolled up like a cigar.
ReplyDeleteI have now heard a story from a different source about finding a milking pail at the bottom of a rock pile. Good stuff! But I wish people would stop taking apart rock piles. What I think we learn is that rock piles were being used well after European contact and that some European objects were being incorporated into the rituals and possibly some European superstitions as well.
ReplyDeleteBut then, we already knew that and do not need to take any more piles apart to confirm it. On the other hand it is a useful lesson if we could get it into the ears of treasure hunters - since old shoes and milk buckets are, presumably, not a treasure.
I live in Edgecomb in a house probably built 1800-1820. I found a very worn child's shoe in a wall that would have been near the original front door. I showed it to a curator from the Maine State Museum and he was not surprised, said it was for good luck.
ReplyDeleteRos
Any chance of getting some photos of the (types of) piles that contain shoes? Are these piles on the ground or on top of bedrock outcrops or boulders? Is the shoe identifiable enough to provide a date? Do all piles in a group contain a shoe or just one or two?
ReplyDeleteSee here for photo: http://rockpiles.blogspot.com/2012/09/more-about-shoes-in-rock-piles-from.html
ReplyDelete