Excellent Article About Old Native Routes, Stone Structures, Selection of Praying Villages, Etc.

Link To Excellent Article

      Below I have linked an article somebody wrote about "The Great Trail" which is an ancient American Indian route from Boston/ Cambridge (Ma.) ending up around the Windsor, Ct. area and going through places such as Natick, Ma., Ashland/Hopkinton/ Ma., Upton/ Grafton Ma. into Webster, Ma./ Thompson Ct., etc.    When the colonists later used this ancient cultural trail, they later renamed it "The Connecticut Path".

      The  article also goes on to point out that the selection (by Native people themselves) of colonial-era Praying Towns (a pre-cursor to the reservation system) were in towns such as the aforementioned, along the Great Trail.  The article also links in the theme of stone chambers, many of which are Native American (First Nations) in origin, and points out that the majority of Chambers found in this area are along these old towns/ sites that make up part of the area of the "Great Trail."

     It is also interesting how the Beehive shrine structure I found in Medway (near Holliston) is in close proximity to Pout Lane, which is an old Native Route going from Natick to Mendon, passing through Sherborn, Holliston, Medway, Milford, which was no doubt an extension of "The Great Trail" meant to go through an area that the main part of the trail did not directly go through.  I also remember hearing somewhere that the Sachem of Natick in colonial times also had a main village site in present-day Mendon, so his/their people must have been all around what is now present-day Holliston, Milford, etc.

    Anywhooz, here is the article about the Great Trail: 

                                                         http://www.towncrier.us/crierdetail.php?smenu=1&twindow=&sdetail=17860&mad=&wpage=1&skeyword=&sidate=&recID=1430   

Hopkinton Site Pt. 3

Hopkinton Site Part 3- Massive Stone Mounds of A Large Scale:

  Here is looking up at a huge mound:

And from above:

Some more:

Another massive mound:

Another view of the same mound above:

A huge mound closer to the ground but in circular geometric compartments: 

This same mound also featured a standing-stone:

Another view of the Standing Stone featured in the mound:

Another huge mound:

And another:

These last 3 pics are different angles of the same massive stone mound:

Hopkinton Site Pt. 2

Hopkinton Site Part 2- Special Cairn of Interest, Propped Boulder and Standing Stones

A huge cairn w/ a large niche spot:

The back of this same cairn is mounded with stone:

Another view of the front:

Nice Standing Stone:

From another angle:

Amazing Standing Stone incorporated into stone mound:

Another angle of the Standing Stone:

Very nice Propped Boulder:

What looks like a huge natural split.  There had to have been a mega-force of energy/shifting of the Earth to split some of the boulders/ bedrock like this in this region's past (actually there was, and the Native people living here experienced it- go to Dr. Jack Dempsey's website www.ancientlights.org and click on "Timeline Pt. 1):

Hopkinton Site Pt. 1

Hopkinton Site Pt.1- Cairns, Split Stones W/ Inserts

I recently took a couple days to visit a massive site in Hopkinton.  A friend originally showed this site to me last week, and I spent another day there just by myself to get a better feel of the area/site.  Down the street from this in present-day Ashland is the site of the colonial Nipmuc "Praying Indian" town of Megunkoquog (I have seen this translated as both "the gifted place" or "place of the tall pines".)  Their ancestors were certainly all over the place.  I literally can't walk 2 feet without realizing there is thousands of years of history here.  I took so many pics that I have to break this site down into 3 different posts to include the different types of features.  Here is "Part 1":

Some Cairns/ Split stones w/ inserts:

A dual Cairn/ Split Stone:

A stone ring on this "cairn":

Very nice Split W/ Inserted Stones:

Another view of the above split, w/ a cairn in the foreground:

A very special Cairn with a stone bird effigy at the base:

A couple of massive cairn heaps:

Looking At Basic Shapes And Symbolism

Comparing Some StoneWorks to Ideas Expressed About Basic Shapes

          I stumbled upon a book the other day titled "Making Marks- Discover the Art of Intuitive Drawing" by Elaine Clayton, who curiously enough, lives in the New England area of the United States.  I took some photos from her book, about what some basic shapes can express and reveal to people, and I immediately thought "wait, I have seen this before, in some of the stone-works I am looking at."  Below I will present some pictures from her book and then compare them with the stone-works:

In her book "Making Marks" Elaine Clayton asks us, "which is more receptive?"  I immediately say that the one erected on the right is more receptive:

Which, reminded me of this picture I took, of this stone-work on a hill-top enclosure:

Elaine asks us "Which one is nervous?"  The one on the right, of course, is nervous.  The one on the left is calm, and dignified.  Which reminds me of a head-and-shoulders Manitou Stone.

Such as this:

Or this:

Elaine asks us "Do you think the oval is oppressed?  What about now?":

This could be represented in stone-work as a propped boulder, dignified and placed to be closer to the heavens:

This idea is also seen in cairns:

Elaine asks us in her book, "Which triangle is more calm?"  Of course, it is the shape that is more smoothed/ rounded out:

This propped boulder looked to me to be rounded:

As did this stone incorporated into a cairn (smooth/ i.e. "older", i.e. "wisdom"):