Wednesday, November 18, 2009

“AN OLD INDIAN WALL FOUND"

James Gage writes:

Maybe one of our NJ colleagues could relocated this wall and get some photos.

From The New York Times, May 1, 1896
Scan of original article [Link]

“AN OLD INDIAN WALL FOUND. It Was Built A hundred and Eighty Years Ago, and is Still Strong. BELVIDERE, N.J., April 30 [1896] – By the finding of a stone wall which 180 years ago was erected by Indians as a dividing line to mark off property purchased from them. Surveyor Lanterman was to-day saved considerable time and trouble in running a boundary line of 400 acres of land at Green’s Pond, Warren County.The property was recently purchased by a party of New-York capitalists who intend to make a Summer resort out of it. The land was originally owned by Indians, and in 1717 the wealthy English people in the neighborhood bought it from them. In the deed it was agreed that the Indians should build the stone wall as a dividing line, which they did. The people who purchased the property held it until 1725, when it was acquired by Gen. Green, and named after him. It was held by his descendants until 1850, when the Anderson family bought the property, and they have sold it to the New-York capitalists.In making the survey to-day for the New-Yorkers Lanterman found the wall. It was just as good as when built by the Indians, but was covered with moss. He was greatly benefited by finding it, as it formed one of the boundary lines, and allowed him to complete the work in short time.”

1 comment :

Norman said...

An old Indian wall or walls, undoubtedly much older than the one in Belvedere, NJ, was rediscovered on Blue Mountain in Bethlehem, PA, by a friend of mine. It was described in an old report from the 1880s by A.E. Berlin, who claimed it was a deer weir. The two walls were on either side of a gully that probably once held water from a spring on the high reaches of the mountain. The deer weir story makes no sense, since the slope is around 40 degrees and to herd deer on that slope is preposterous. Besides, the walls are at the most one to two feet high and were probably not much higher originally.