VAGABOND TRAVELER

EXPLORING STONE WALLS & OLD HOMESTEADS

By Mary Emma Allen

As one explores the rural areas of our country, particularly New England, remnants of old homesteads often are visible.  Stone walls, which once surrounded many of these farms, snake across the woodlands and along old roads.  These structures give you an idea of where families once lived and where cleared fields existed but may be overgrown now by forests.

One of the very interesting aspects of hiking, my family and I have found, is coming across these old homesteads and stone walls in isolated areas and pondering about the families who lived there.  Who were they?  When did they come to this section of the country? Why did they leave and let the home fall to ruin?

Often you'll find old apple trees with gnarled branches indicating that a family had planted fruit trees not too far from their house.  Lilac and rose bushes might remain and let you know that this family liked to have flowers blooming around their dooryard.

Depressions in the ground may indicate a former cellar hole.  Closer inspection may reveal stone foundation remnants, stone slab door sills, and an occasional piece of rotted lumber.

Stone Walls Reveal Ingenuity

The stone walls that criss-crossed the landscape can indicate the existence of a former farm but nowadays may be miles from any habitation.  Built by our forefathers, these stone structures marked property boundaries and kept cattle and sheep from straying from home or onto a neighbor's land.

Basically unique to the eastern part of our country, these walls remain as remnants of the pioneers' ingenuity and our early American heritage, as well as having historic and aesthetic value to those of us who wander through the woodlands.

They are remembrances of the hardiness of the early farmers and a symbol of their way of life  Many hillside farms were noted for their rockiness.  So as early settlers cleared the land and prepared to sow their crops, the rocks and stones had to be disposed of.  What better way than piling them along the boundaries and converting them into natural fencing materials?

Dry Masonry Method

These fences were constructed without mortar; a dry masonry method, it sometimes was called.  It took skill to fit these rocks and stones together so they would not readily fall apart. Nevertheless, frost and time have a way of toppling the walls, so repair of these structures became a frequent task.

Sometimes stone walls appear to have been built in a somewhat hurried fashion; others were done time and skill.  The early stone walls were predominately useful and necessary structures.  It was only later that people began to build them for ornamental purposes.

Other possible indications of old farmsteads are the stone piles.  The rock strewn fields had to be cleared of stones before cultivating could be done.  So when there were more stones than needed for walls, the farmers simply piled them to the side of a clearing.

Discoveries While Hiking

When hiking the countryside, you may come upon the old cellar holes, remnants of an earlier heritage and realize that history was made here.  When exploring these old sites, leave things in tact for possible archaeological exploration rather than destroying these indications of habitation.

The stone walls, too, many people desire to have preserved and not pulled down for use around modern homes.  Stone walls are an interesting part of our heritage and form a picturesque addition to the land, manmade but in existence so long that now they are almost considered a natural legacy.

(Mary Emma Allen writes from her multigenerational New Hampshire home, in a state where stone walls and old farmsteads abound in the forests.  These fascinate her for their history and art.  Visit her web blog about old one-room school houses in New England and elsewhere: http://one-room-schooldays.blogspot.com )

For information about Mary Emma click here