Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Around French Brook - Boylston, MA

Before we start I should mention there was a dearth of ceremonial material in this area. For one thing the local bedrock is so shattered that it was hard, at times, to decide what was natural and what might have once been man made.

I walked in on the north side of the brook, over a bit of Faggot Hill (which I have climbed in the past). Here was a "nice woods, good beaver pond!" but with the addition of a small standing stone at the outlook:Closeup of the stone:Coming down off the hill and skirting the steep slope on the north side of the brook, a wall started - seemingly at random:A moment or so later, I thought there was more structure up the slope a ways:Very ephemeral.

Here a quartz vein in the bedrock caught my eye:Turning now towards the brook, here was a slight trace of "wall":This seems to begin with a small enclosure and continues with a faint wall tapering off towards the water. There is a single piece of quartz, just below the "enclosure":
I walked all the way up the brook looking for somewhere to cross. Found a helpful bridge and walked back downstream on the south side of the brook.

One more standing stone, reminiscent of some examples from Larry Harrop:
It was the presence of rocks in this assemblage that were not all of the same plate-like material that convinced me this is man made. Of course the way the vertical rock is propped up is not at all natural - but it was the extra rocks that convinced me.

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