Dipping into Freetown State Forest

The story of the stone mounds of Freetown-Fall River State Forest, told in Manitou, left a lasting impression on me. Though they tend to write in a dry semi-scientific manner, the things the authors find while digging up a rock pile are quite spooky. It brings up the ethical question of whether it is right or wrong to project about someone else's mysticism.

Anyway, I was happy to realize the Freetown was a closer drive than some of the other places I have been driving for hikes, so I started going there. First try was a slow walk down Hathaway Rd. We took a side trail and came across rock piles, then we continued on the main road and encountered another site. Later I was able to confirm that two places were different spots along the same ridge. What I found was not a good match for what Mavor and Dix wrote about in Manitou and, on closer reading, I find they were over on the east side of town, while this walk I took was more to the west. Very much a typical "Nipmuc" site, what I found was burials and marker piles. Interestingly Manitou does not make such identifications.

I thought, since this is not far from a Wampanoag Reservation, that specific locations could be kept "secret". Of course you are welcome to walk down that road and see what you can see. I came across some things like this: 

You should recognize this shape by now (see the corners and the hollow?).

Here is a variant:

I thought this one looked like it might have a falling over "manitou stone":

There are many places like this in New England:

Lots of older piles:

Some still fresh looking ones, scattered around in the holly:

Goodbye for now, I'll be coming back here. It is a large woods.