Serpent by the Modern Breach

The NE Corner of Happiness Farm: The above image was taken from the cornfield opposite our house, looking back (west) at what we call the Garden. It looks much like that still as I started writing this, falling snow and all, although the image is from January 15, 2008. I suppose I should have waited for a car or truck to pass by on the road below that garden and those zigzag stones to give some sort of perspective to the image, but I didn’t. Look closely and you’ll see the road, some utility lines above it, a transformer on a dark brown wooden pole...

   The oldest image I can find is aerial photography from 1934. The zigzags above don’t show as clearly as some of the others do in other spots:

   Read any stone wall book and you’ll find the assumption that zigzag stone walls were formed from field clearing stones tossed against wooden Snake Fences, those post-less Virginia Rail Fences so easy to construct, “pales” of split wood, ten feet long or so. After 25 years of looking for a zigzag row of stones that fits that criteria in the entire frame from 1934 (This one: http://cslib.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p4005coll10/id/6508, I’ve yet to find something that remotely resembles anything but a careful zigzag stone construction – and can’t imagine that every “tossed” collection of stones was rebuilt at some time by somebody for someone, as if every farmer in town decided to tidy up all those messy unintentional heaps of stones.

    The segment extends about 200 feet north from the north end of my driveway, where its composed of boulders and larger cobbles:

At the north end, the row meets a linear row extending to the west and the ancient zigzag disappears completely, replaced by some 20th century retaining walls:

Looking back south, the forward points are visible through the trees and brush in this image from last Christmas Eve:

   So, a few days ago, after a light dusting of snow, I thought I’d capture some images. As I did, those three darker stones, large cobbles stacked on some larger stones and a good sized triangular boulder, caught my eye in the distance off toward the house:

Closer, by a modern septic tank related breach (1960's or earlier): 

   Rather than some messy old randomly tossed stones, big ones at that, I realized this segment is one more example of a carefully constructed Snake Effigy, the stones chosen and specifically placed according to size behind a large flat topped triangular boulder:

Using some images as overlays, emphasizing in what ways the segment of stones resembles a rattlesnake or a Horned Great Serpent Petroform (adding more stones in the first image below):

11/18/2009:

More around the yard: Home Serpents

(I mean, "Home Stones."