Over the last 28
years, I’ve walked along (and posted a little bit here now and again) about Ceremonial Stone Landscape
features under and around the power lines that cut through the Nonnewaug
Preserve in Woodbury CT.
And at my blog too:
I've probably lost more photos than I have collected here:
Entering my 29th year of independent research, I went back up to this area of great Archaeological Sensitivity above the historically known Nonnewaug Wigwams, and find it’s all changing fast, one more chapter torn from the Pootatuck History Book:
I could hear all this happening while I was sick as a dog and home bound, taking Ceftriaxone IV.
There's some stonework revealed by brush clearing, but I couldn't walk any farther...
I'm pretty sure that this spot has been bulldozed away:
This reminds me of the highest hill in Milford, Ma on the Hopkinton/Holliston/Milford town border where one of the richest rock pile sites in MA is located (I took Peter there years ago). There are remnants under the electric wires but the richest sites are off in the nearby woods. Seems there was a native name for this hill associated with rocks:
ReplyDelete"Magomiscock.
The highest hill in Milford. The Indians gave the name
probably to the whole range of hills. Mr. Ballou, in his history
of Milford, says : " The name may be rendered, 'ground afford-
ing a grand show.' Its compounds appear to be Magho, to
afford, give, or grant, misse, swollen, large, showy, grand, and
ohke, earth, ground or place, literally, a high swell of land
affording a grand prospect of the surrounding country."
I would suggest, however, that the base word of this name
may be " Ompsk " (standing or upright rock), var. msJc-msq ms^
etc., and the name might be translated, ' Great Rock Country,'
' a place of great rocks.' Adin Ballou in his history speaks of
the primitive ledges and the superabundance of various sized
rocky fragments, preventing the profitable tillage of a consid-
erable portion of the high lands (page 22). At the present
day the quarries of Milford are celebrated."
The full link is here:
https://archive.org/stream/indiannamesofpla00kinnic/indiannamesofpla00kinnic_djvu.txt
Bruce
Tim:
ReplyDeleteSorry for your loss. I had a few losses this year and have not tried to write about it.
I bet you will find lots of rocky fragments but not much in the way of recognizable native artifacts. Where did they all go?
ReplyDeleteBruce: I saw that "Ompsk" in the word right away.
ReplyDeleteYes, I mention Magomiscock a lot in my blog as well. A very beautiful place. Sadly, the place is lost to the millions of people who live in the area and surrounding towns- many no longer have the sensitivity to relate to the very landscape. bio-rythm they live in. They are materialists.
ReplyDelete