Turtle

Well, this, for me, is the icing on the cake! I'd just said to my husband: "I wish I could find a turtle" Then the very next day while standing at the mail box I just happened to look up at the big boulder in the bank by the oak tree and there it was! The light was just right. I'd never noticed the rock under the boulder before. Amazing, I've been walking back and forth to the mail box every day for almost 4 years and haven't noticed this. A whole world invisible, in plain sight!

The turtle's nose is perfectly aligned toward the confluence of the two creeks.

A close up of the turtle. The bank is eroding somewhat. The small round rock to the left of the turtle's head has rolled there. It's a little distracting.

The picture below was taken from the top of the turtle "shell" looking toward the two creeks.

And here's a little video. it's a bit difficult to make out the rock due to the quality - or lack of it- but shows the rock in relation to the creek. About half way through, as I pan across to the creeks, you can just make out the dark hollow in the mountains where the other rock piles are.

Two Indian Points

A couple of artifacts found here on the farm. The white quartz point I found a few days after we moved in here. It was in a small pasture by the creek that runs through our barn yard. It was just laying on the grass, kind of like the Manitou stone shown below; as if it had been placed there that very morning. I'd walked by that spot a number of times and hadn't seen it before.

The black our son found in a little hole the dog dug. Right outside the kitchen door! We've found other items that look like they might be artifacts but can't be sure.

The End of the Rock Piles and a Surprise!

Here we are above the rock piles. The hollow widens up here into a big leaf filled bowl. The ridge at the very end has lots of loose rock and large outcroppings but it all looks very natural. I don't see any sign of arrangement or manipulation up there at all.

But, after we took these pictures we decided to follow a deer trail that doubles back up the mountainside to the left of the above picture. Half way up the trail, far from the rock piles and with not another rock around what did we find but this little gem!!

A Manitou stone, about 9 inches long, just laying there on the hillside. No rhyme nor reason to it.

The picture above is the last of the rocks in the hollow. This is just about where the spring emerges.

This is a few yards further up the hollow from the cairn. Lot's of rocks with the little creek bed to the right side of them. The water is running under the rocks in some parts of this pile but it's difficult photograph. You can actually hear the water tinkling underneath there. My husband was clearing dead tree limbs off the top.

As you can see there are rocks in heaps or clusters for a little ways on into the distance but I can't define any real form to the piles. Most of them are obscured by the deep leaf litter.

A Cairn In The Creek

Above is another view from the back side of the cairn.
It's a very long structure as you can see.

I'm calling this a "platform" pile but maybe it should be an "overlook" or "lookout pile". I saw a drawing of one on one of the other sites and now can't remember the correct term. Anyway, it resembles a flat bottomed boat turned upside down, with the transom tucked into the slope. Let me know what you would call it PWAX.
Looking down the hollow you can just make out the apple tree in the distance, just to the left of the leaning tree.

This is the pile that started me on the search for more info. It's right up next to the dry creek bed but looks too perfect to have been formed by the water. I did mention this pile to a neighbor. His answer was " Oh probably old "R" ( very well known local character now deceased) used to make his "shine" up there!
I don't think it has anything to do with "shine".

Another view of the apple tree mound.

My reason for questioning this mound is because the rocks are small. It could be that at some point in time this spring was running enough to have deposited them there as it bends around the tree. Living on a creek I'm always amazed at how much rock has been moved around after a good rain storm. One day I was sitting on the porch swing. The creeks were running very high and fast. I could hear large rocks tumbling and rolling under the water. When the water level went down an area that we used to call "the beach" was no longer a nice flat stretch of pure sand but a strip of rocks and small pebbles. So I try to keep that in mind when looking at anything near the creek.

As you walk up the hollow to the apple tree, look up to the the right and you see this. The rocks are very large, about 6 feet in height. Doesn't look much in the photo but when you're there it has the appearance of a gateway. A bit of a path threads between the rocks and around the corner but doesn't really lead anywhere. That's my husband standing behind the formation. He was moving a plastic chair the previous land owner left up there. It's a perfect spot to sit and wait for the deer during hunting season!

In the center of the hollow is a big old apple tree! The mound on the uphill side of it looks like earth but it's almost all small rocks. The spring bed is there on the left. I'm undecided about this mound. Not sure if it's natural or not. The end of the long rock pile is visible to the left of the tree trunk.

A circular arrangement.

Looking up toward the "squirrel"

First I just want to thank pwax from the Rock Piles blog for taking the time to come over here. He has way more experience than I do in studying this subject. I really appreciate your comments and observations pwax. Thanks.

Back to the long pile. This is the other end of it looking down the hill. The single rock at the front looks kind of round here but in real life it's more of a triangular shape and looks almost like a marker stone.
I'm noticing the camera doesn't capture the true perspective of things. Form the pictures the area looks to be quite flat but it's actually fairly steep. The rock with the "twins" is about 10 or 15 feet higher in elevation than the main portion of the long pile.

Our elevation here at the bottom of the valley btw is 2070 ft abs. The highest point on top of the ridge at the end of the hollow is about 2500ft. The hollow gets very narrow further up and the sides extremely steep. There are some impressive natural rocky outcrops up above. That's one reason my first thought was that over the centuries the rocks have tumbled down the mountain and come to rest here. I'm sure that's the case with many of them, but once down they don't jump up and arrange themselves like this.

Another shot without the arrows.

A closer view of the "twins" and arrows showing the direction they're pointing.

This is a close up of the rock on the other side of the spring. There are two flat rocks laying on top of it which look an awful lot like the "Twins" illustrated in the ROCK PILES blog. There's also another flat rock standing up on it's edge behind and to the right of them.

Ok, again looking up into the hollow but now over to the right of the spring is this rock right under the arrow.

Here's another arrangement of rocks. This is just up above the long rock pile. As I said before, the dead leaves are very deep. There are other rocks under them so while I want to see this as an effigy of maybe a man, if all the leaves were cleared away it may resemble something completely different. Or nothing at all. Who knows. I just try not to disturb things too much.

This is looking to the left of the long rock pile, out of the entrance to the hollow. You can see a few of the rocks in the center next to the tree and the creek, frozen, below. It's fascinating that others have noted that the rock piles in New England are often situated in east/west hollows overlooking water. Three creeks - not counting this wet weather spring- converge in front of our house. It seems very probable to me that the convergence of all this water had some special meaning to the Indians around here.

This is another view of the long mound of rocks going up the hollow. I really don't think it was ever a wall. Having spent most of my life up in the North of England I know plenty about stone walls and their construction. It also doesn't appear to have been the foundation of a barn or other structure. But, what ever this was I think it's been damaged somewhat. Many people have lived in our old farmhouse over the last 100 years and I can imagine their kids spending many happy hours playing and scrambling around on this rock pile. I know I would have!

A circular group of rocks

Not sure what this could be. The leaves are so deep it's not possible to view the extent of some of the groupings so what we see may not be the big picture at all.

Another view along the length of the rock mound. The spring turns off to the right behind the first light colored tree trunk while the rocks continue on east.

What is it?

Here it is from the other side.
It actually looks a little like a squirrel from this angle. Maybe that's why they're attracted to it.

A closer view.

I need to take more pictures of this rock. It looks like it could be an effigy of some kind.
The squirrels obviously like to sit there and break open black walnuts. Look at all the husks!

Looking back down the hollow.

The end of the long pile, a gap and then another small grouping of rocks with the dry creek bed in the foreground.

This little spring only runs after a couple of days of very heavy rain. It emerges out of the ground way up in the hollow and disappears back under the ground at various points along the way. Sort of stitching it's way down hill eventually draining into the larger creek that winds it's way through the pasture below.

I used to think this was a field clearing pile dumped there by the original settlers when clearing the small pasture below. After discovering the Rock Piles blog I'm now inclined to believe it's something more.

A closer view showing the rocks and the dry spring bed in the bottom right corner.

Looking east, up into a secluded hollow.