Photo source: http://stonewall.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/534/2014/03/SWI2-Ph-TenWallsOldManse.jpg
"Crude wall at the Old Manse, in
Concord, MA. Important for three main reasons: (1) pasture fence; (2) military
expedience; and (3) it helped inspire Ralph Waldo Emerson to publish Nature in
1836," writes R.M. Thorson..
- and that's Myth #11: Indigenous People of what's now called New England did not build with stones!
I disagree here: http://wakinguponturtleisland.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-crude-wall-in-concord-ma.html
A little update:
The list can be found at http://stonewall.uconn.edu/appreciation/ten-walls-a-gallery-sampler/
And, as they say, one is good, but two is better; here's a second one that is very similar in artistic construction at Bladen's River Preserve in Woodbridge CT:
I disagree here: http://wakinguponturtleisland.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-crude-wall-in-concord-ma.html
A little update:
The list can be found at http://stonewall.uconn.edu/appreciation/ten-walls-a-gallery-sampler/
And, as they say, one is good, but two is better; here's a second one that is very similar in artistic construction at Bladen's River Preserve in Woodbridge CT:
I felt it had to be something because of the placement of the "head stone," emphasized by the "eye" when I took the photo, but only interpreted it as testudinate after writing the above when it showed up on the "my photos" screen saver as it flashed by...
Tim -
ReplyDeleteAre any of the other "best walls" similarly suspect?
The other suspect walls from this list found at http://stonewall.uconn.edu/appreciation/ten-walls-a-gallery-sampler/ in my humble opinion are #1, #8,#9, and #10. The photos are very small and it's hard to tell. I've got the book in front of me and the photos are in black and white, just as small.
ReplyDeleteAnd the Martha's Vineyard wall is alluded to as being modern, but the builders (not noted) may well have been people of Aquinnah Wampanoag descent.
ReplyDeleteI can agree with you about #1, though (by tradition and even in the poem) it has been rebuilt many times. #s 8, 9, and 10 aren't going to be easy to geolocate. In the case of #9, both sides of Route 49 in N. Stonington, as well as all of the side roads into it, are lined with stone walls on both sides for miles and miles - so unlikely that this is a Native construction.
ReplyDeleteRe: #9 - I respectfully disagree - that's an assumption we've been taught. I've unlearned it at my house where two Indian Trails met (or meet?), Indigenous artwork to be seen in the stonework remnants that remain...
ReplyDeleteCan you more precisely locate #9 within that set of long rows?
ReplyDeleteCurt: I wish I could!
ReplyDelete