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An Introduction

As part of retirement, I enjoy trail and off-trail walking, both for physical exercise and photo opportunities. Primarily in New England, but also the mid-west and deep south.

As such, I have amassed many images and videos of often remote sites over the past 5 to 10 yrs, including structures of "euro-american" and possibly native american interest. These include but are not limited to stone structures, earthworks, cellar holes, and even abandoned farm equipment. Most of these images I have not shared widely. However, I am not getting any younger, as the saying goes, and my thinking is it would be a shame to not share some of this content while I still can.

I'm not a creative writer or even a blogger, so I'll mostly leave it to others to interpret the content as they wish. My descriptions are therefore minimal and I prefer to let the images speak for themselves. In some cases, I've posted videos with some narration.

Feel free to post comments.

All content in this blog subject to copyright, 2023 - William Downing.


Latest Posts

Fort Mountain Stone Enclosure - Chatsworth GA

Was here in Oct 2022. Close to the summit of Fort Mountain, there is a massive serpentine stone row with gaps that winds roughly along the same elevation for 800 to 900 ft. It is thought to be a prehistoric, ceremonial native american enclosure, although this is still much debated. Photos follow its main course from west to east. Stairs on trail leading up to structure: Deep bends in wall: West of the trail, there is a shorter, less massive extension of the wall. Videos (open to full screen for best viewing)... Overview Snaking Wall Western Section
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Mound in a Cul-De-Sac - Enon, OH

Pardon me while I jump a bit in time and place 😀. I visited this Adena earthen mound in April of 2021 in a suburban neighborhood in Ohio, not far from Dayton. This sort of milieu is not an uncommon location for prehistoric indian earthworks, as post-contact Euro-American settlements grew and eventually took over. Most of these mounds succumbed to the plow; some survived.  Adena in a Nutshell Adena refers to a mound-building culture from the Early Woodland period and it spanned ~ 800 BCE to early AD. Primarily centered in OH and immediately surrounding states (WV, KY, etc.). The main purpose of Adena mounds was funereal and ceremonial - burial places for the honored dead. Additional earth was added after each burial or ritual, resulting in some quite tall mounds. This one is listed at anywhere from 28-40 ft high, depending on who you believe. It was never excavated to my knowledge, but many contain human remains and grave goods.  That's all I'm going to say about Adena here, b...
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Bird Effigies in Stone - Eatonton GA

Also from October 2022. There are two well-known large bird effigy sites in Georgia: Rock Eagle and Rock Hawk (aka Little Rock Eagle). Archaeologists generally agree that each was built sometime between 1000 BCE and 1000 AD by Woodland cultural period prehistoric indians.  Rock Eagle is the much better preserved/refurbished (?) of the two and is a 10 ft high mound of quartz and quartzite stones approximately 100 ft by 120 ft.  Rock Hawk is roughly the same dimensions but more damaged, to the extent that you would have to use your imagination to envision a bird motif let alone a hawk. The damage is in part due to older archaeological digging/trenching methods, which were not as attentive to site preservation as they are today. The two sites are ~13 miles apart. Observation towers allow elevated viewing opportunities. Rock Eagle Videos (open to full screen for best viewing)... Obstructed View Unobstructed View Rock Hawk (aka Little Rock Eagle) Note: Sorry for the shadows. The su...
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