For most people, the term "root cellar" evokes an image of a brick or stone masonry subterranean structure tunneled into a hillside. These classic root cellars are only one of a number of different types of structures used to preserve root crops, vegetables and fruits over the past 400 years. The other structures include subfloor pits, cooling pits, house cellars, barn cellars, field root pits & trenches, and root houses. Root Cellars in America provides a history of all the structures, discusses their design principles, and details how they were constructed. The text is accompanied by period ... View More...
"Stories Carved in Stone: The Story of the Dummer Family, the Merrimac Valley Gravestone Carvers, and the Newbury Carved Stones,1636-1735" focuses on a remarkable collection of early American folk art found in Newbury, Massachusetts. This collection of folk art has been the subject of scholarly research, scientific curiosity, and even local folk lore. Yet, it has for the most part remained a mystery. Who were the artists? Who commissioned the works of art? When were they done? After seven years of exhaustive research, the authors have pieced together the answers to these three questions. Th... View More...
The main complex of the America's Stonehenge site in New Hampshire is a collection of stone chambers, enclosures, niches, standing stones, carved drains & basins, and astronomical alignments. The archaeological community has largely dismissed this seemly eclectic collection of structures as the work of an eccentric farmer named Jonathan Pattee who built his house on top of the ruins in the 19th century. Other researchers have sought to compare the chambers and astronomical alignments to stone structures from around the world built by other ancient peoples. No one has thought to evaluate the si... View More...
In the heart of Cape Ann, Massachusetts is a high flat rocky ridge which stretches from Gloucester to Rockport. The area is crisscrossed with old roads and modern hiking trails. It is best known as the location of the abandoned village of “Dogtown” with its many ancient cellar holes and numerous inspirational sayings carved into the boulders by philanthropist Roger Babson in the 1930’s. The Stones of Dogtown and Beyond offers fresh insights into these well known landmarks and delves into forgotten aspects of the place’s history. This guide takes a fresh look at the well known carved saying... View More...
Across Massachusetts, roadsides are dotted with small stone markers giving the mileage to major cities. These ancient road signs called milestones aided travelers during the 1700’s and 1800’s as our road signs today do with their mileage and destination information. Although, these old milestones no longer serve a useful purpose in our modern age of highways, they continue to fascinate us. This fascination has led to the preservation by local communities of at least 129 milestones in Massachusetts and a number of milestones in New Hampshire. Milestones were for the most part commissioned b... View More...
The Art of Splitting Stone is a detailed study of the history, tools, and methods used to split, hoist, and transport quarried stone in pre-industrial New England (1630-1825). It is an invaluable resource for historians, archaeologists, and stone masons interested in identifying and dating early stone splitting and quarrying methods. The amateur researcher and avid outdoors person will find the book useful as a field guide to identifying split boulders and stone quarries abandoned in the woods.
From the time of the American Revolution to the end of the 19th century, Lawton Foster Road in Hopkinton, Rhode Island was home to a small rural community. A few families eked out a living on the rocky poor soils through growing corn, rye, potatoes, apples, small scale sheep farming, and timber harvesting. Today, the land has reforested and much of it has become wildlife conservation property.
These lands harbor a big mystery. Over 2500 stone structures have been found including stone cairns, three stone chambers, several serpent effigies, enclosures, niches, triangle symbolism and other ... View More...
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