Current Project: Researching an Ancient New England Site
Welcome!
On the Trail to Site "X"
Each time we return to Site "X" we learn more from careful observation. The photos below are are evidence to us that there is always more than meets the eye. The turtle head in the first photo is something I passed by dozens of times without noticing. In fact I only noticed it when pouring over some wideshots of what we consider to be the main area of Site "X". The visage caught my attention, I zoomed in, and was astonished. There is much more turtle stone work located here, some of it huge.
Photolog
A very regal-looking turtle head. It seems to even perhaps have some human-like qualities to it. It looks directly to the east.
A quartz trail marker in a spot on a rock wall, previously unnoticed along the back corner of an ancient hemlock grove. We also finally measured the girth of the largest hemlock. It was a little over one-hundred inches!
Side view of the "pointer stone."
Close up. What does it point to? See below.
About 1/8 mile due east of the pointer, an aperture in a rock wall that runs perpendicular to the one with the pointer rock.
Reverse angle. What does this point to? See below.
The quartz pointer rock and rock wall aperture lead to this row of boulders leading up the side of a hill. The boulder in the foreground appears to have some human-like facial features or maybe those of the "stonish giants" of Lenape legends. How does this row of boulders end? See below.
A huge split rock, which appears to have been at one time a single glacial boulder. We've dubbed it "Nokomis" for it's symbolic female characteristics and it's connection to other nearby stoneworks in a creation story mythology.
Mrs. Highland Boy, a.ka. the Algonquin Princess ponders the meaning of it all, but declined to pass through the opening at this time!
Adjacent to the split rock is this "stairway" or perhaps quarry site which leads up to the top of the hill from a different direction. What does it lead to? See below.
A single standing stone, or "manitou" stone on the hill, at the end of the trail which began at the quartz pointer stone. The top of the hill is devoid of any other stonework save for this one.
After a few months of work at "Site X", we decided to head into some much more familiar territory for the 4th of July weekend. There are many "King Phillip's Rocks" around New England, owing to the fame and terror inspired by the Wampanoag leader Metacomet, also known as King Phillip, in the colonial days of "King Phillip's War" (1675-76). Years later, it seemed each region had a spot in which they claimed the sachem met with tribal councils and colonial intermediaries. The location pictured below is, in my opinion, the 'granddaddy' of them all. I had not been back to this site for perhaps 20 years...it's not quite as easy to get to as it used to be! It was once an area frequented by picnickers and partyers and even further back an area that was heavily dug for artifacts, of which many were found.
Photolog The approach to King Phillip's Rock from the Baquag River. Note the
stones at river's edge. They are split or separated to form a pathway
from the river up to the boulder as seen in the photo below. King Phillip's Rock looms on the upper right.
The rock opening or portal from the river leading up to the King Phillip's Rock site.
The massive glacial boulder known as King Phillip's Rock. Photographs do not do justice to the very impressive size. In the foreground, that's Mrs. Highland Boy, a.k.a The Algonkian Princess, and the occasional discoverer of arcane antiquities.
Approach to King Phillip's Rock from the forest to the south.
Detail of area which appears to be worn, chipped or ground away on King Phillip's Rock. In the area on the left, a man of over six feet can stand inside the hollowed out area which is surrounded with stratified quartz. The stone in the foreground may have broken away from the main boulder. The worn circular areas to the upper right may have been used to scale the rock, although Mrs. Highland Boy disagrees contending it looks like the spots were ground out in a near perfect circular fashion for some 'unknown' reason. See the close-up photo below.
I always prefer to use the principle of Occam's Razor when investigating, making as few assumptions as possible and always looking for the simplest reason. So while Mrs. Highland Boy ascribes some mysterious reason for the circular markings (which I admit look much more perfectly circular and mysterious in person with the naked eye) I prefer to reason that the stone in the foreground of the previous photo was used to stand on, gaining a boost and a toehold onto the side of rock and enabling 200-300 years worth of curiousity seekers to get up on top of King Phillips Rock (albeit with some dexterity required). This does not take into account untold numbers of Indians who likely did the same thing, thus wearing down the rock at said points. These points may have been chipped out at some point to facilitate the climbing and become worn down over the centuries. I do reserve the right to change my opinion, especially if I become convinced the aforementioned hollowed out chamber section is of more significance. Mrs. Highland Boy rarely sticks to her guns on an issue unless she has some sense she is right.
"Rock on rock" pile on a knoll near King Phillip's Rock. Some ethnographers believe Native Americans made such piles to mark places of spiritual power. They are also used as trail markers.
Reverse angle of previous photo.
A 'split wedged rock' on the banks of the Baquag River. Again, some New England ethnographers believe Native American's made a religious practice of splitting and wedging rocks to release spiritual power.
Split rock at base of King Phillip's Rock.
A closer look at the "rock portal" from the river leading up to King Phillip's Rock. On previous trips to this site over several years, it never struck me that this could be an 'entry' of sorts from the river to rock site or vice versa. It is imaginable it could have been used for utility or in a ritual manner. I have not at this time investigated for any 'archaeoastronomical' significance. Water and ritual bathing played a huge role in Algonkian shamanic or religious practices, so I lean towards ritual use.
One more of the Alongkian Princess, who made me leave the woods because storms were in the forecast.
A panaromic view of the river approach to King Phillip's Rock.
The study of the King Phillip's Rock site is complicated by the many old digs done nearby over several generations.
A viewing pavilion for visitors was built, I believe sometime in the
early-mid 1900's, the remains of which are still visible. There are
also some colonial rock quarry sites nearby and rock walls which date
back, judging from the construction, to the 1700's. Access to the site today is somewhat limited. It is interesting to note that King Phillip's actual encampments as referenced in Mary Rowlandson's narrative on her captivity have never been verified but only referred to as in the "Wachuset Hills," generally believed to be in Princeton, Mass, north and westward.
This is the continuation of a journey interrupted. I was first brought to the "Indian grinding stone" over thirty years ago, as part of a twenty mile hike to earn a merit badge in Boy Scouts. As I recall it was part of a required series of hikes. Ten ten mile hikes and a twenty miler. The promise of seeing the stone was the treat, the carrot at the end of the stick. What young boy could resist the thought of seeing an honest-to-goodness Indian relic hidden among New England's hills.
The man who brought us there that day knew the woods in those parts like the tiles on his kitchen floor. On a previous hike he lead us to a forsaken stretch of railroad tracks that stretched through the New Hampshire wilds. There, in a ditch, were four unmarked stones set next to each other. He explained long ago there was a cholera epidemic and a family had died en route from Montreal to Boston. The train had stopped and the family was buried alongside the railroad bed, their final resting place. We stood there and stared for awhile and moved on. It was a desolate place. I must someday write more about the man who brought us there. He was a good friend of my father. They both died around the time the millennium turned. We often visited his farm where he lived alone.
His papers and journals, if they remain, would be a treasure trove of information. He was a true student of all that was around him. I had no desire to visit the lonely gravesite ever again, but over the years the thought of the Indian site often crossed my mind. It was a magnificent stone. The thought of Indian maidens gathered around and dutifully grinding corn maize was a romantic one. To stand in the spot were these natives surely stood was something I wanted to do again and to share. Though the site was remote I remembered clearly where it was to within a quarter mile or so and I had the picture you see here as a clue to its size and possible orientation.
Native American Grinding Stone at Site "X"
My first attempt to relocate the stone was perhaps 20 years ago. I was certain I could find it, but failed. I recalled it not being far off an abandoned cart path. There was some evidence of logging in the area and I wondered if the stone had been dug out and carried away by skidder. It was certainly possible for someone to have done that in such a remote area, unnoticed. It also could be the trick of mind and age that betrayed me. Was it a left or right off the cart path? Was the stone really just a few feet from a rock wall we followed into the woods, and if so, did I have the right rock wall? 20 years ago I had to be satisfied with exploring old colonial cellar holes that dotted the cart path, the stone was not to be found.
