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Comments 1
July 28, 2018
Manchaug Pond Foundation
Ladies & Gentlemen:
I read in the Spring Newsletter the small article entitled “Nipmuc Prayer Walk”. Years ago when Waters Farm published an article about the same topic fellow Registered Land Surveyor David L. Lavallee and I were intrigued and visited the location on Waters Farm. Both of us had learned a good part of land surveying from longtime local surveyor Kenneth M. Shaw. We had to chuckle when Marcel Lavoie showed us the location of the “walk. These stones were just like the hundreds of rail fence stones we had seen over the years in many towns.
Wooden rail fences were quick and relatively easy ways of erecting a barrier for animals or to mark property lines. Trees were split into rails and the rails were stacked one on top of another in a zig-zag formation for support. Under the corners of each angle were usually two stones, one on top of the other, to raise the bottom rail above the ground in an effort to reduce rotting of the bottom rails. As time went on and the farmers cleared the land for crops stone walls replaced the rail fences.
What I found interesting of this area were the two tall stone gate posts laying on the ground where the path leads off the old road from Waters Farm to Sutton Falls. This would imply that there was a gate and an enclosed area off the road. The rail fence stones don’t seem to contain an area for animals and they lead to a pile of stones, a typical old time property marker. Perhaps this was a property line prior to the Waters acquiring the entire area.
Additionally, farther up the hill, near the top, are the remains of an ancient charcoal pit. This is unusual because the wood to be burned was more easily hauled down hill and the pit would be near to a water supply for fire prevention and for sustenance of the worker who had to attend to the fire on a 24 hour basis. There is another charcoal pit on Waters Farm close to the pond at the bottom of the same hill.
Standing between the stones and the pit I wondered just what did this area look like 200 years ago.
Sincerely, Robert Nunnemacher