SGT (Part 2)

"Missing from this history is an account of the pre-contact history of the Native American people who lived here prior to (and well after) Dutch exploration and English settlement. In truth, their history is, of course, just as real and important as the history of any other groups of peoples. So, herewith are the facts as we know them of the first people who inhabited this region...According to a field report by Tom Paul of the New England Antiquities Research Association, many pre-colonial (and probably native-built) stone structures exist in the upper Summer Hill Road area in Madison, in the northern part of town on the eastern border of Killingworth and the Hammonasset Reservoir, in the area occupied by the Hammonassets before the colonial period."                                                                                                                         ~ http://www.madisoncthistorical.org/madison_history/index.htm

(I was looking for the origin of the name "Signal Hill" in Madison CT when I found the above quote. It's refreshing to see the Pre-Contact History of Native American People mentioned as being important in a town history - and a mention of Native Built Stone Structures. Tom Paul is mentioned, and NEARA as well. One of my favorite all time photos of a Turtle Stone Mound is one that Norman Mueller took of it, after it was shown to him by Tom Paul. It would seem there are more Native Built Stone Structures on the south side of Madison as well, just south of the Old Indian Trail that became the Boston Post Road...)

Moving west along the Trail, I found an open area where the greenbriar and poison ivy was less dense. I spotted a very old Grandfather Oak in there, thought it interesting. And beyond that, moving up hill and not too far away, a large block of outcrop with a stone ringed depression on the northish side of it:

Another equally bad photo:

I circled what might be the outcrop in this crop of the '34 Aerial:

Is it a lighthouse foundation, as in the "Signal" part of Signal Hill, although not near the highest point of the hill, or is it some kind of "chamber" or a sweat lodge? I can answer that very quickly, I am proud to say: "I don't know what it is - but it is interesting...

And the stone rows are interesting too. You reach the high point of this hill above the salt marsh very close to where those stone rows come (almost) together. If you aren't looking for any animal effigies, you won't find any (maybe):

...but if you are looking, you might find them: 

(Above: I added a missing headstone - a too small one at that - to a possible turtle)

On the east side of this section of stone row is a boulder pile:

I walked around it, pulled out some bittersweet growing into it, broke off dead branches and swept away some dirt and leaves - in a respectful and gentle manner...

This one reminded me of many other similar stones I've posted before, perhaps a "single stone turtle,"

http://wakinguponturtleisland.blogspot.com/2012/04/x-head-single-stone-turtles.html - possibly a baby turtle "just past pipping" ~ http://wakinguponturtleisland.blogspot.com/2013/02/just-past-pipping.html

(It's also a little bird-like too, I admit, but I lean toward turtles anyway. In the same way, I think that notch is for a turtle's head and those just might be feet under that big stone below:)

(Looking up from the pile at the easterly junction of stone rows:)

Stepping back (and stepping back a couple more times) over this section of rows and looking east, one might notice that there's a Manitou Stone on top of this row by a big maple on the right of the photo - if you are looking for one, I mean...

Looking north, I like the way the smaller stones "travel" over a larger cobble:

And there's sort of another more carefully built rather than tossed corner construction there too that I remember from at least one Rock Pile post by Pwax...

Is it just me, or are there some signs of (very weathered) human enhancement of these stones going on here? And how is it that these stones are still in place when it looks like that long, large stone (with an interesting almost notched end) has fallen off the row sort of?

I can't decide if this looks more bearish or wolfish - and humanly worked:

There will be more to come in Part 3...

Take a look at the Bird's Eye at Bing Maps: http://binged.it/124wZFa - I need a new 3-D card or something before I can get into Google Earth and steal images from there - maybe dc will steal some for me and send me an image or too - he often "hooks me up with kmz's of things that appear here and on Rock Piles and is the Master of such things. See: http://www.relicsoftheancients.com/str_Googled_Structures.htm