Massachusetts Cairns 4 & the Perseid Meteorite Shower

The 2015 Perseid meteor shower peaked on August 11, 12 and 13. 

August 13th: The Green Corn Festival.

Coincidentally, it was on August 14th, on an evening walk through the woodland trail near my home, that the angle of the setting sun illuminated the stone piles and cairns in a most curious way. 

(From D. Harris, 2008: The Great Falls 2008). 
"Celestial observations made by tribal members, tribal representatives, scientific analysts, and field researchers in August 2007 revealed that the observation point marked by the stone features was aligned with the setting sun during the HEIGHT OF THE PERSEID METEORITE SHOWER. 
The passage of the meteorite shower from northeast to southwest during this astronomical event is of great importance in the cosmology of Eastern tribes. (Scope of Work 2008: The great Falls 2008). (Turners Falls Ceremonial Hill Site.) "

Bird Effigy on Cairn view from the west. The "body" of this cairn has many "offering" stone. 

Close up of the Bird Effigy, above, straight on; note how the position of the head is supported with bits of rock and quartz. 

Effigy on boulder

Side view of a "seat." 

Turtle effigy.: nose facing left; .and 1/4 of the entire body"

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Massachusetts Cairns 3

This wonderful Native American Site is located in Western Massachusetts. It is on private property, not my own...and therefore I cannot share anything more than photos of the site. It is remarkably similar to other "rock pile" sites described on various internet sites.

It’s the spiritual implications that haunt me; is a site, once it's been used for religious or ceremonial purposes, always "spiritual," or  does it  cease to be a hallowed place once it no longer serves the function for which it was intended?   Is a place "special in the spiritual sense" only when man designates it as such?   I'm reminded of  the current practice of discontinuing and selling Church buildings:  No longer considered "hallowed walls" but just a building;  something to put back on the tax rolls, or to tear down. Redundant.  The Man who builds-or owns,  can therefore ignore, or destroy. 

 What is it about  Stonehenge , the Pyramids, the Great Wall of China, or Easter Island that draws us?  

Are we mystified by the Men who built them? The HOW of them?  The WHY of them? 

Are the  Native American cairn fields then,  just "piles of stones"? Why do we relegate them to "field clearing" by New England farmers of the 18th century? Are they too ubiquitous? Too Abstract?  

What is the WHY and HOW of this particular collection of Cairns? Why this place?  What I  do know, from watching the animals via a trail camera,  that it is a place of peace and sanctuary for the animals that pass through, and have done, year in and year out, time out of mind. 

This appears to be a ceremonial site. All the components are there. South facing slope near a Great Pond, bordered by brooks formed by spring run-offs.  The large Split Boulder. Curved rows of stones, facing the split boulder. Nearby  another Split Rock", "plugged."   A Stone Wall with no logic to it's beginning or ending,  bordering the run-off of a spring.   At least three complete circles of stones of different sizes, with a corresponding sized  quartz rock in the center.    There are at least  5 turtle effigies on cairns, a couple of frog effigies, a snake, and the  single large Bird effigy. In an almost direct line, approximately 300 feet apart and heading north, are piles of stones. There is no known property line in the oldest deeds to correspond with the placement of these piles.  

Split Rock filled with stones. 

Frog Effigy on Cairn

Large split boulder.. face on;  it's middle is covered with woodland debris but it extends about 15 feet,. 

Ring of Stones surrounding the large Split Boulder, above. 

Row of stones on ground facing the large split boulder, above. 

Turtle Effigy on Cairn

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The Fawns make an appearance

Two does gave birth this spring: One had twins.
The fawns are investigating a cairn...they must have picked up my scent....

Massachusetts Cairns 2

Effigy,  on cairn: Split representing the mouth, with sliver of stone for it's tongue. Note the ridged stone serving as his backbone. 

  Unfortunately, some,  buried under centuries of  woodland debris,  are mostly below ground and  unrecognizable.

Turtle shaped head on a cairn,  with debris almost obscuring the rest of it.
Beyond is the wood cutting debris of the current logging operation.
When the heavy logging equipment passes over a cairn, it is totally knocked about. 

Cairn with turtle shaped head, and a flat rock  (almost) upright in the center. 

Small circle of stones with quartz rock in center the size of a basketball.  

Larger circle of stones with large moss covered quartz rock in center... (about 12:30) : you would need a bushel basket to hold it. 

Cairn, about 4 feet long, 2 feet high, almost covered with moss and woodland debris; flat rock on east side; the tree had grown up behind it;
There are bits of quartz rock layered on the side; I scraped away some leaves.

Small  stone circle with small quartz the size of a softball, in center.  

Another stone circle. I couldn't find a quartz in the center for all the debris.

At first I thought this was a stone wall to no-where, but the larger foreground rock suggests  an effigy for sorts.

In addition to the cairns in this area, there are stone piles, some with quartz, spaced at regular intervals,  perhaps 300 feet apart, on a north-south axis. st.  

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Massachusetts Cairns 1

The first photo is a wide view: on the far left there are three cairns.  There is also one in center foreground. Following the ridge from left to right, there are three more  along  a semi circular line.     In the early 19th century there was a farm further east along a road, and the cairns may be simply evidence of "field clearing." However, the distance from the old cellar hole; the location in the terrain and the arrangement of each pile, with the inclusion of a quartz  rock to many of the piles are more suggestive of NATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS, similar to those found in other areas around New England and suggest an earlier origin.

Within a natural amphitheater. approximately 8 cairns from left to right along the top.
This is a area of numbers "glacial dumps"...but the cairns have been deliberately placed; smaller stones on top of larger ones.
There are also eight or ten stone circles of varying sizes, with a quartz stone in the center.

Effigy and cairn; the base boulder extends another 4 feet or so and is covered with woodland debris. 

Cairn: Looks like two turtle effigies, on on top of the other.
"The turtle carries the prayers of the people on it's back." 

A pretty stunning bird head effigy stone on top of the cairn, with the beak to the left and a large, distinct eye.

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For more information on Effigies (and rock piles in general) see Peter Waksman's Indian Rock Piles website.

Another Article Here:

“

The Fawn

Here's what we've been waiting for! Our first view on camera of this year's Fawn.

Massacusetts Cairns: Where the light comes in...

This evening, when the sun was low in the west,  I noticed that the light strikes the "cairn" of stones which you can see just behind the mother bear in the photo below.  A very large, Beech Tree grew  up tightly behind it..a couple of hundred years ago, and is now dead.

 In many of the trail camera photos, a variety of animals are seen standing on top of this cairn.   There are two other cairns immediately to  the west  of this  spot.

CLICK HERE TO SEE SOME ANIMALS ON TOP OF THE CAIRN

And HERE to read about CAIRNS

A description of the  "Wildcat Hill Cairns" in Ashland, MA matches the description one could make of these Cairns:

"Stone pile sites can be found all over Massachusetts.  In some cases, the stones are carefully arranged on top of exposed boulders.  In others, they appear loosely piled on the ground.  Often, they are found in large clusters of similar appearance.  While some may be the result of field clearance, many are found in areas so rocky that “field clearing” would have been futile. There are some early New England accounts of Indians building "donation piles", in which travelers add a stone or stick to a pile to honor an ancestor or local spirit.  Elsewhere, stone piles are associated with vision quests.  Wildcat Hill, located in Ashland not far from one of John Elliot’s praying villages, may have comprised a ritual landscape with upwards of a hundred devotional cairns, all on the west slope of the hill. If you visit a stone pile site, enjoy the ambience and take care not to disturb any of the rock formations, which contemporary Native Americans believe still carry prayers to Mother Earth."

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Bear and her Cub

Bear and Cub.

In the Summer Woods

Bear Waymarking

One of the trail cameras caught a flash of black fur as a bear streaked by; from the look of several logs and stumps, it had been looking for grubs.  A fresh set of animal tracks after this morning's rain caught my eye....bigger than the neighbor's Black Lab's , .and these came up from the direction of a near-by beaver pond.

Still no sign of the Fawns

There are two does in the area with fawns in hiding. Lots of bear signs as well, but now fawns as yet.

Fairy Lights in The Woods: Summer Solstice

Walking in the Woods just before Sunset...A Magic Moment

Bear June 17, 2015

Screen shot from video of Bear inserted below.
There are 3 different does in the area, and they all appear to be nursing.

I wonder if the bear was looking for one of the new born fawns, because this fellow appeared to be on a mission...and headed directly off in the direction of where the does have their fawns every spring. I read that during the first 10 days or so the fawn is vulnerable as it lies hidden and still, and if a bear smells it's presence it will pounce on it. According to the following link,  while this behavior has been seen in NY state, it hasn't been seen among the bears of Western Massachusetts.

Western Massachusetts Bear Behavior

Two Pregnant Does and a Young Buck

I had not checked the cameras for over week in deference to 2  pregnant does.
Both have since had their fawns, and we're looking forward to our first glimpse of them on camera.

Here are clips from videos  taken last week. One is old and mottled, and blind in one eye. The other is younger, and probably a daughter of the older one.  Also on the camera was a young spike horn buck in velvet. His antlers don't show up too well on the clip.

Watch the YOUTUBE video of this young buck 

 here

The Three Bears: A video

Spring Doe

Moose at Midnight May 15th

The eagle flew over the house today.....white head gleaming in the morning sun...always special!

Meanwhile, on the trail camera  I was thrilled to find a video of a Moose. Ok. I couldn't obtain a very good clip,  and it  was the back end, at midnight. Whatever.  It's fun to record the  "happening"  in the woods just beyond the house.  Later in the day a pregnant doe came through.  Most likely when her time comes, she will have the fawn somewhere close by. We'll start looking for it in about 3 weeks. 

There is a second  doe in the area, but only one will "set up" her nursery within range of the trail camera.

Clip from a video of the back end of a moose.
The next morning a doe came through....

Cat Scratchings

Found! The old Hemlock Tree that I couldn't locate last winter.

Read Here

Today I found the tree!  And the scratches!  Last January I had been following a large animal  because it's track resembled those of a mountain lion. A large melted area at the south base of a hemlock tree suggested that it had slept overnight where the land sloped away, and further, there were quite a few tracks around the east base of  the tree, and a lot of scrapes and scratches.  The next day I went back with a camera but was unable to find the specific Hemlock. Was I dreaming?

Today I was following a distinct deer trail east to west, through a hemlock grove, looking for a new spot to put a trail camera, and found the old Hemlock tree!  The scrapes aren't as white as they were last winter but still quite visible.  Now, one would argue as to what made these scrapes, but I have the advantage of having seen the large cat tracks,  AND witnessed and remarked upon the spot where it had slept, right next to the tree. (click on "Read Here" above to see the original post.)

Wild Turkey Scratchings

Working methodically through the grove the turkey would reach forward......making two long scratches, take a quick step back,   peck. ....  then make one giant step forward....and scratch, twice, a new section...

The Young deer have returned

The Young Buck April 20, 2015: He has the small nubbins on his head: the beginning of antlers.
The Trail Camera showed that there are 5 deer in the area including an old doe, two younger does, and two young bucks. There isn't any food in the woods...hopefully they will move further up the ridge. 

The Ice Went Out

Watching the ice go out; at sunset there was still some, but by the next morning we were greeted with open water!

The Last Snow

Most of the deep snow has melted.

Fog and a fresh bit of snow April 10th 2015