Secrets of the Stones Videos

Secrets of the Stones Website

Narration script of the videos:

          Weaving across the face of New England, and creating a literal web of mystery, are hundreds of thousands of miles of stone walls; including numerous other unexplained stone structures, and thousands of stone chambers. The chambers appear randomly, sometimes capping the ends of great stone walls, and at other times appearing to be built into the sides of hills. These megaliths stand silently, a testimony and a reminder of the antiquity of the area, but with no reminders as to their purpose, or that of those who created them.
          The walls honeycomb the land, seeming to guide the paths of the roads they border, or at other times appearing to be randomly directed. The walls often define what seem to be specific areas or appear to wander aimlessly through the remote forests. The more recent residents of these areas accept them as always having been there and credit ancestors, indigenousness peoples, early explorers, ancient cultures or even glaciers as the creators. They are accepted as a part of the landscape and as such their mystery becomes folk lore and the facts of their creation are hidden in plain sight. They are silent, ancient tracings of times long past. A testimony of a fragment of our history not yet recorded or acknowledged. Yet similar structures appear all over the world and have been chronicled and recorded for centuries in books and literature.
          One needs only to stand in the presence of one of the stone chambers, to pause for a moment within one of them, to feel the antiquity and know that unusual means and methods were used in their creation. What has most recently come to light is the incredible number of these stone structures that are scattered across the landscape, and are slowly being sacrificed to the expansion of a new generation. One that is not mindful or focused upon preserving their history. Countless numbers of the chambers, miles of stone walls, and other structures have been carelessly dismantled or altered with no regard to the antiquity they represent.
          In 1939, using data from an 1872 department of Agriculture report on fences it was estimated that there was a combined length of approximately a quarter of a million miles of stone walls in the New England area. This length is equivalent to a single wall stretching around the earth over 10 times. The mass of stone used in the walls is greater than that from all the ancient stone monuments in the world, combined. Utilizing modern technology these numbers would clearly be increased exponentially.
          Because of the vast numbers and extreme lengths of the stone walls, most New Englanders are aware of their presence, they are obviously difficult to miss. Few however, have any idea as to their purpose, or for that matter, who actually created them. They have been described as boundary markers, stock fences and property demarcations. What escapes reason and understanding is that they are often random, close together and without direction. They start and stop for no apparent reason, going up hills and across ridges, in areas that could not have been planted or used for grazing or agriculture.
          Often closely connected to these walls are other unusual structures. Most notably, thousands of Stone chambers scattered across the landscape. Despite being described as colonial root cellars, ice houses and animal birthing chambers, there is ample evidence that these chambers existed long before the European settlers arrived. Various design elements preclude any possibility that they were used as living structures, and aspects of astronomical or seasonal alignments have often been noted, but never justified, for any logical purpose. An almost casual apathy seems to surround them.
          Besides the walls and chambers there are several other stone anomalies, including subterranean structures, stone circles, standing rows of stones, balanced rocks, stone piles commonly known as cairns and several other strange structures possibly even including dry stone constructed bridges. A time clock is ticking, we need to preserve these fragments of history before they are erased forever by new technology and creeping industry, rendering us void of a past, and removing the history of the very foundations of our country. Antiquity has attempted to teach us that the true quest of discovery lies not in seeking to create new horizons but rather in removing the veils of theory, masquerading as fact that cloud our vision and clearing our sight to encompass the totality of our environment.
          Although New England has the greatest preponderance of stone edifices in the world, scattered across the globe there are other examples of similar structures. Other countries far exceed The United States attempts to preserve our history. It is important to re-state that the stone structures of New England comprise the largest collection of its kind in the world. Here, we present but a few of these amazing structures found in the New England states and surrounding areas.
          The country side of Connecticut is crisscrossed with stone walls randomly meandering along the roads, intersecting fields, tracing unusual patterns along stony ledges and through dense forested areas. Stone chambers appear alongside busy roads and perch on deserted rocky hill sides. One of the most publicized areas is that of Gungywamp in the town of Gorton. Gathered on this site, of over 100 acres are examples of stone chambers, stone circles, standing stones and colonial foundations representing habitation for thousands years, an illustration of how the environment can reclaim and erase the presence of humanity.
          Massachusetts as well has an amazing collection of stone structures. Over 27 towns, scattered across the state have identified their share of the stone antiquities of New England. The stone walls are commonly seen in fields and forest, lining roads and marking lines that do not appear in record books, if they ever did.
From the unusual collection of balancing stones in Lynn, to the standing rocks of Lowell, these majestic stones stand as silent sentries of times long past, still at their posts, marking their place in time. Stone chambers dot the landscape and many towns have identified several within their boundaries, Shutesbury, Burlington and New Salem to name just a few.
          New York State's historic Hudson Valley basin holds the largest documented number of stone structures and walls to date. Dozens of chambers are right along busy highways while others are sheltered in the abundant forests that are a part of local land trusts or State and National park systems. These areas have attracted interest in the past decades because of the unusual number of chambers that have been found in such a concentrated area. There have been books and pamphlets focused on the chambers and walls, and a few very dedicated individuals have tried to draw attention to these unusual structures from out of time. One of the Leading experts in the field is Martin Brech of Putnam County whose book The Stone Chambers of Putnam County New York State is perhaps the most extensive body of research concerning these stone structures of New England. His decades of work and tireless efforts to draw attention to the cause of their preservation, have left a legacy for those who follow.
          New Hampshire's town of Salem has been acclaimed as being the site of the oldest man-made construction in the United States. Called Americas Stonehenge, this site comprises roughly 30 acres and is a collection of chambers, walls, standing stones, and other stone structures. It is speculated that it was built by an ancient culture which was determined from the carbon dating of charcoal pits, dating them back to 2000 BC.
          As of 2010 the states of Vermont, Rhode Island, Maine, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey all have stone chambers still standing and intact, as well as an impressive collection of stone structures in the Canadian province of British Colombia. Walls wind their way throughout these areas as well connecting and reminding us all of a time and perhaps even a culture and people the history books have neglected to mention. New England and its surrounding neighbors still are the curators of the largest collections of stone structures in the world, yet nothing is being done to preserve these precious remnants of history that have been forgotten and neglected, and are slowly falling into ruin and being destroyed by abuse and local progress and development.
          In the town of Marlboro, Massachusetts there was a single stone chamber that has been sacrificed to the concept of progress. The New England Antiquities Research Association fought to save this chamber, but to no avail and had to stand by silently and watch it and all that it stood for knocked down and ploughed under. This association helps to fund the reconstruction and archeological investigations of stone sites all over the Region. They are dedicated to a better understanding of our historic and prehistoric past through the study and preservation of New England’s Stone sites in their cultural context. Founded in 1964 they are dedicated to preserving our past so that we have a foundation for a future.
          In the early 1600's there is documented speculation as to who had constructed the walls and chambers, and why, clearly indicating that the early settlers to this country were not their creators. Many of these walls are four feet high and have a six foot foundation, for no logical reason. Some walls are as high as 12 feet and as wide as 20 feet. What kind of animal commonly used in agricultural regions would require a wall of that size? The effort to build the hundreds of thousands of miles of stone walls, chambers, and structures would be the most costly and labor intensive undertaking in colonial history, costing several billions of dollars. Yet there is not even the slightest mention of this massive Construction project in the historical records or history books. The Native Americans who were in residence during that time were not fence builders, nor did they utilize root cellars. They respected the land and did not partition it for any reason, most especially to mark personal possession. And so the question still remains and drifts upon the ether, who did built them and why?
          Mankind, humanity, is on a journey through time. As a species we have traveled through time periods marked by ignorance and darkness, enlightenment and reason. We have marked time as to development, religion, industry and empires. Mankind has traveled through thousands of years of evolving our knowledge and wisdom, naming each phase of expansion as yet another apparent conquest of unawareness and the unknown. This current time has been called a "new age", one theoretically that is marked by exploration as well as illuminating and dispelling the unknown. It has been considered a time of progress and development. Merriam-Webster defines progress as, “the gradual betterment; especially: the progressive development of humankind.” We would ask you, is the destruction of antiquity and history the kind of foundation we want to build on and grow from? By destroying the legacy of our past we have nothing to build upon, nor do we have the building blocks. These walls and chambers are more than just piles of rocks. Though found all over the world these stones speak a common language and they tell a story of our footprints in time. Since the beginning they have held information and insight of where we came from and helped to provide a foundation for us to build upon for future generations. We are but a small voice, a whisper if you will. Join your voices to ours to create a roar of protest against the destruction and apathy towards the largest collection of stone structures in the world. As with the stone walls, they were built rock by rock and they have created a monument in time. Voice by voice we can create a crescendo of outrage, a collective voice that cannot be ignored or silenced. Together we can halt the erasure of the tracings of our past from the landscape. And perhaps, in time, truly learn the secrets that they hold for us.

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