I grew up in New England and walked a lot of the northeastern Connecticut contryside.  As stated below, many of the stone walls were not property boundaries but rather field borders.  The comment about them being accretional, I think, is important.  They generally were created through field clearing.  As a gardener, I spend every spring pulling new rocks out of our family gardens.  I didn't do walls, but piles that probably look like cairns today.  I observed that the walls were often not enclosed but single, L-shaped or U-shaped.  I think it was mostly a matter of how long a field was farmed before the property was abandoned.  The orchard example is a good one.  Walls delimited space but weren't always complete enclosures.  I often think that they were sometimes just a place to stick all the rocks out of the way.

David Legare
BLM Las Cruces (New Mexico) District

--- On Thu, 9/17/09, Joe Dent <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> From: Joe Dent <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: Historic or Prehistoric Stonewall
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date: Thursday, September 17, 2009, 9:32 PM
> on 9/17/09 7:26 AM, Benjamin Carter
> at [log in to unmask]
> wrote:
> 
> > Histarchers,
> > 
> > I have a question that I know at least some of you
> have had to deal with
> > in the past and would like some advice.
> > 
> > I have a private landowner who claims to have some
> stones with
> > astronomical alignments. Some of the stones have
> makings on them, many
> > of which are in the same general direction. My first
> impression is that
> > these were damaged by a plow, but I do not have a
> great deal of
> > experience with this. I have read/heard/seen somewhere
> that plow marks
> > tend to be V-shaped in cross-section and not U-shaped.
> Is this correct
> > or does it depend upon the type of stone?
> > 
> > My main issue however, is that there is a stone wall
> involved in this
> > arrangement. The owner has located all of the deeds
> back to the
> > beginning of records in the area and these stone walls
> do not fall along
> > property lines. It is quite wide, approximately 10
> feet. In plan, it is
> > in the shape of an L with the long side on the order
> of 100 feet long
> > and the short about half that. The angle is close to
> 90 degrees. The
> > 'wall' is disorganized does not appear to have been
> well-laid, although
> > there was one spot that I could see well-laid stones
> beneath the tumble.
> > My question is, what else might this wall be? My first
> impression is
> > that it is merely a rock wall built from the removal
> of stones for a
> > historic field. This is partially corroborated
> by  reports as late as
> > the 1950s that there was a corn field just to the
> northeast of the long
> > wall. However, the L-shape doesn't seem to make sense.
> If a farmer was
> > removing stone from the field, why would he make the
> L? The short side
> > leads off into the woods to a point about half way
> between the right
> > angle and a stream. To the northeast of the wall is
> the owners lawn and
> > to the southwest is woods that leads to the stream-
> this area is very rocky.
> > 
> > A couple of relevant notes to the puzzle:
> > An elderly resident indicated that in his lifetime
> (nearly 100 years)
> > there had not been a structure in the location of this
> wall.
> > Local residents have collected prehistoric points in
> this general
> > vicinity for many years.
> > 
> > Can anyone think of references that I could look at to
> see some
> > diagrams, photos, etc... of a variety historic stone
> walls- particularly
> > of Eastern PA?
> > 
> > Cheers,
> > Ben Carter, PhD, RPA
> Ben -  I have no easy answer, just a couple of things
> to consider.  First, I
> don't think property lines are necessarily always the
> reason for stone
> walls.  I'm a caretaker for a property owned by Nature
> Conservancy near
> where I live.  It was formerly "Old Man Duckett's
> Farm."  He built a stone
> wall along one side and part of another side (L-shaped) of
> his orchard
> bordering the path to his house. It seems to be an
> accretional wall, laid up
> at various episodes as he cleared rocks (of which he had
> many) from his
> fields. The point is it's not a property line, but probably
> was a landmark
> for one of his most valuable resources. He died in early
> 1900s, but folks
> still talk about his apples.  And I don't think this
> particular non-property
> line feature is all that unusual.  Second, I would
> have a very hard time
> seeing it as prehistoric, for obvious reasons.  My
> last thought (again
> grasping) might be to look into idea that it is elevated
> platform for some
> sort of barn or granary - not a foundation but access ramp
> of sorts along
> the facades.  I've done some work for the Appalachian
> Trail Conference near
> Skyline Drive in Virginia, and have seen such stone
> features near barns.  I
> hope I'm interpreting you correctly in that it is ten feet
> wide?  Its 100
> foot length on one axis is curious.  Only German
> settlers would build such a
> large barn in my area.  Good luck. It's a very
> interesting mystery.  Let us
> know if you figure it out.
> 
> Joe Dent
> American University
>