Near Browns Farm - Part 1 - Wall 1 in red

Thought I'd draw a picture of this area to you better understand what I saw. I will be posting pictures from the other two structures in the coming days.

All these pictures are shots of the first Wall 1 in red. It's small and low to the ground. Only a couple of feet long. But as with most structures in the area. It has suffered alot of damage.

More Rockpiles - Lower Yoder Township

No trip is complete to this section of the mountain unless I take a picture of this Stone Skull. I know it's subjective, but it never fails to look that a skull to me.

Found this simple little structure a couple of miles heading down the mountain towards St. Clair Road.

Right across is this:

It's might be hard to make out. But in the center of it, is a nice piece of red sandstone. Could this be a possible burial cairn?

Double Sunken Rockpile - Lower Yoder Township

Took a bunch of pictures over weekend, which I will be posting this week. Finally got back up to the area near Browns Farm (for more click here). Found this interesting example of what looks like a double sunken rockpile/cairn.

Closeup of pile on the left.

As I was walking along and right before I spotted the above piles. I ran across this interesting example of what looks like at least 4 rockpiles in a group.

All this stuff is very near the area of the old Harshberger Homestead which I believe I finally found. They were a mixed race couple. John was black and his wife Nancy was white. They settled here in the Laurel Mountains around 1826 or so, after moving up from downtown Johnstown. Their daughter Elizabeth (Betsy) then lived in these parts until her death. I will be posting pictures of the old foundation later this week.

Rock on Rock

Laurel Ridge Webcam - Snow Almost Gone

Rockpiles - Oval Mound

This nice size flat top rock pile is located just off of Decker. It kind of looks like it could be the burial type.

There is a double sunken rock mound nearby.

This nearby rock looks to me like a possible grinding stone.

Stone Circle by Wall - Another Look

PWAX had a question on a previous post about a stone wall here. What looks like a kind of campfire ring is on the lower left hand side of the photo. It's very close to the wall.

But having said this, it still kinda of reminds me of some the types of rockpiles, that are low to the ground and on some walls that sort of lean the rocks in.

Cleaning an internal section of it a couple of inches down. This could be burnt, but it could also be just plain old leaf debris that is decaying. I'm not an expert gardener. The rocks show no sign of being burnt. So I don't know either way. But if it was a campfire ring - it wouldn't have done a very good job.

But it's still that type of anchor stone that I have been talking about previous that makes me thing it has something to do with the wall and nothing to do with campfire.  A couple of more shots of the ring of stone.

Here is the circle of stone - built into the wall.

Still Too Much Snow

On this first weekend of Spring. It was great finally being able to get out and begin another season of searching for rockpiles. But very strange in regard to walking in the woods in shorts with what's left of the snow.

This is a shot of the area just below the ridge line - about 2500 feet up that has pockets of snow about 6 inches deep yet.

Which meant is was rather pointless to search., since most of what I find is low to the ground. So I just went for a hike and enjoyed all the sunshine and warmth on this first full day of Spring.

Hopefully maybe next weekend will be better.

Westmont Mound - Johnstown - Native American?

Finally after all this snow, I have fresh pictures from being out this morning. I headed to the Mound as it is commonly called around here. Though some call it the old Indian Mound. I have been meaning to write about this site for a long time. This is one of those things, I grew up looking at, and in a kind of way take for granted.

It's located on a hillside above downtown Johnstown. The earliest reference I can find so far on the mound is in an 1856 account of the early history of Johnstown.

The next couple of pictures are showing a couple of different angles. As mounds go, it's a nice size. The look reminds me alot of the mounds in Ohio.

I am standing just below the mound looking towards the Morrellville section of the city and to the mountain range that I spent a great deal of time exploring.

This mound is listed on a map - by either Squier or Moorehead. I can't find where I put the map reference, otherwise I would have posted that.

More of the Wall

This section of the wall along here.  But as you can see there is a lot of debris. As I've said before, some of this has your normal farm wall look, while other section, look completely different and have an Indian look.

Another Look at Wall

Here's another look at this wall that I first talked about here.

Old campfire ring next to the wall.

Milk Bottle - Rockpile

Found this interesting example of a bottle in a rockpile. The old milk bottle was sticking half out of the pile by the old log laying across the rockpile.

 

Rockpile Sites and the Season's of the Year

With this weekend's time change. I have been thinking about why it's so much easier for me to spot some of the things I run across in the Spring as opposed to other times of the year. To me, it has to be the position of the sun in the morning sky. And that's something I really notice, considering I've worked overnights for many years and hardly see the sun 6 months out of the year. I see the moon and the night sky more than anything else. In a way, I am lucky, because by a kind of default, I get to track the movements of the sun and moon everyday. And it's become somewhat of a hobby to me.

Which brings me to the subject of today's post. The two sites I will be talking about were spotted by the position of the sun. First up, this Stone Skull:

I first talked about this site here. I know this subjective  - but I see a Stone Skull staring back at me. This is off to the side of a very old trail that has been there since at least 1774 (see here for more on the history of the trail). The first time I ever saw this, I did a double take. You just couldn't miss this, it was almost like a spotlight was shining down upon it.

Even with this closeup - I still see the features of a face and I continue to see it everytime I go up this section of the mountain.

Now on to a Stone Wall that was found by a direct result of the sun.

This is in an area - just off of Decker that was on my list to explore one day, but hadn't got to it yet. Last March was walking along Decker about 9 in the morning and saw the strangest thing. You can't see any of this from the road, because it sits back a piece. The sun was reflecting off of the wall. It looked like just like if you were using a mirror to get someones attention.

It was like there was a neon arrow pointing to the wall saying this way idiot. Imagine my surprise finding this beautiful wall that kind of reminds me of some of the sites in West Virginia. To find out more about this wall click here, here and finally here.

The wall trails up a ravine. And off to the left hand side is this possible double sunken burial mound:

Because of the fog - you can't really see the beginning of the wall that would be on the top half of the picture.

This is a closeup of one of the sunken areas. To learn more about this cairn click here. Standing at the cairn you can then see the following:

This smaller wall strings along the side of the hill, while the main wall that I have been talking about, which might be hard to see because of the fog, trails along the middle half of the picture.