Eagle Rock

Eagle head facing left, 9 o'clock, with outspread wings......carved out of top of ledge overlooking a large vein of Quartz.

This is within close proximity to two other rock carvings. Go to  THIS EARLIER POST and scroll down to the bottom two photos.

Pisgah Rock Piles

Forty years ago we bought a 10 acre wood lot about 1 mile from our house. Turns out, we never  used it, and the last time I walked there was 25 years ago. The old Hemlocks need harvesting, sadly due to Wooly Algae infestation. Today, camera in hand, we took a walk.  There are two old stone walls bordering about  2 acres  closest to the road, used as pasture over 100 years ago. Further back in the woods, however, were some interesting Rock Piles. Given that this property is located close to other sites with Native American features,   the rock piles deserve closer examination.  

A walk in the woods. 

The neighbor's Hemlock grove being managed.

Quartz in the middle of a rock pile at the base of a huge oak tree.

Large shaped stone on top of a larger flat rock striped with quartz. On the far side a triangular shaped quartz rock is tucked underneath. 

Smooth bolder with a carefully placed necklace of smaller stones along  the west side.  These stones are too small to bother with in terms of field clearing. 

Large flat stone with a circle of mid sized stone; one is quartz and faces the south west sun. 

Large stone with mid sized rocks placed around. 

Turtle Rock with rocks; one triangular shaped quartz rock facing south west.  

A very large boulder with two mid sized rocks tucked close together. 

April After the Snow Melted

With the snow melted  I could see, weaving through the woods  the remnants of an old foot path heading towards a brook which flows into the south end of The Lake. I followed it a short way and it led to an old Bent Trail Tree, which was pointing  in a 90 degree angle to the path itself. Following the direction of the tree, I came a large Rock Pile.

Bent Trail Tree

Pointing to the South West

Nose of the tree has a smooth round stone embedded inside. 

Rock  Pile: Notice at the 2 o'clock position, the two  upright stones. Flat stones are layered in a mounded pattern  through the center towards 5 o'clock. The entire area is over 10 feet in length by 15 feet in width.
The stones closest to the two standing stones are lain flat; at the near side many are placed on edge, leaning into one another.  At about 6 o'clock, there are gaps to be seen, where some of the rocks have slipped away. 

Thong Marks

View of the Brook from the Top of the Stone Pile

Large Rock Pile with Quartz

Large rock pile with quartz on top, in center , located in a deeply wooded area. 

Side view of the quartz rock. The base of this pile is a large boulder, which has been covered by at least 20 rocks. Leaves and forest debris have filled in between so it is difficult to recognize. About 35 years ago while on a hike, I met the then owner of this property. He told me that there were a great many rock piles throughout the area, and that each one had a Quartz rock in the center. He was collecting those quartz rocks to use in his new fireplace.  At the time I didn't give his remark a second thought. Today I cringe at the memory. 

Group of Three

The Logger has ended his work for the season.  Today I walked further in to a new area of The Woods, where I found a dried up spring. On the knoll overlooking the spring there were signs of purposely placed rocks: 

Two large boulders, the space between  spanned by two large rocks. 

A row of rocks There are smaller rocks placed in-between, in a row, and one perched at the far end. 

 A single rock placed on a larger boulder, "pointing" in the direction of a trail that leads down to a  spring. The spring is curious. Although it is dry this September, when flush  the water wells up and flows off in two directions, north and south. The small  brooks thus created  end up flowing down  into the lake: one on the north end, the other on the south end. 

Stone Sculpture

A rounded  boulder with a deep split near one end. The split had long ago been filled with a series of smaller rocks, carefully placed and resembling the plates on the back  of a turtle.   Three of the rocks on the right have been recently disturbed and I couldn't be sure where the "head" was originally facing. 

1/2 Circle

A stone wall,  3 feet high and  6 feet long, when first viewed from the far side,  turned out to be a curved wall in the shape of the letter J.   A strange way to clear a field!

Was the space in the middle a  deeper at one point?

Evidence of Post Contact Settlement: Update July 19, 2016: Just returned from a trip to the UK: In the highlands of Scotland I spotted  similar structures and learned that they are evidence of habitation of men who raised sheep, and were used to catch one or two particular sheep from a flock.The small flock would be driven along the wall by a Sheep Dog, and held there in a tight little group. The man would be able to grab one at a time, for shearing. So was this construct  a late 8th century when the area was first settled?  Has anyone seen something similar?