Even More of the More Mysterious Stonework in Essex, Vermont
A Companion Article to the New YouTube Video "Exploring More Mysterious Stonework Around Indian Brook Reservoir in Essex, Vermont"
The headline may sound a bit redundant, but you will find more of what’s in the new video Exploring More Mysterious Stonework Around Indian Brook Reservoir in Essex, Vermont in this Substack piece. Some exclusive extras, even…
Here’s another look out from the Overlook in the park. Though similar to the opening shot, this is raw footage which wasn’t used in the final produced video, the first of a few Substack exclusives in this piece…
The Wing-Shaped Stone with A Standing or Stood-Up Stone
There are many clues this notched Wing-Shaped Stone may have been shaped by human efforts. Perhaps it was even moved into its current position by such efforts, as some supporting stones also appear shaped by human hands.
The slant on the “clean” side of the rock, next to the wetlands, lends itself to use as a Rockshelter. Indeed, some blackening of the stone at the base on this side may suggest its use as a fire break over an extended time.
This is an extended clip — some of this footage is in the finished video, some is not.
A little unused footage, raw video not in the finished piece, zoomed out so it’s kind of a fish-eye view:
This boulder would have been near the Eastern shore of an island in Glacial Lake Vermont towards the end of the Ice Age. This map was in the video:
The Stood-Up or Standing Stone:
Some raw footage later used in the finished video:
As noted in the video, this Boulder bore a resemblance to one I’d seen three weeks earlier, over two hundred miles to the South, in Holliston, Massachusetts, perhaps near the shore of Glacial Lake Medfield:
And both resembled this one I’d seen four years earlier, about twenty miles South of the Essex Boulder, at the base of Raven Ridge, which also placed it on the shores of glacial waters:
Possible Boulder-Headed Serpent Effigy Form along with Frog Effigy Atop Spring
This feature was a re-visit, as mentioned in the video. Much of my trek this day was along previously untrodden-by-me trails. These re-connected with known paths quite nearby this possible Boulder Headed Serpent Form, and even though it had begun to rain, I had to stop over, pay my respects, and give some attention to this forgotten form. I do believe it to be an old Serpent Effigy. Accompanied by a Frog atop a Spring.
When I first came across this possible large-scale Serpent Effigy Form in 2021, I reported it to the Vermont State Archaeologist, Dr. Jess Robinson, but he did not respond. Having been in touch previously, I also emailed Dr. Brad Lepper, a leading Ohio Archaeologist known for his work on their Serpent Mound, for his thoughts, but he said he could not speak to Serpent Work in Vermont.
Despite this, having visited Serpent Mound, I do note some similarities in these large landscape forms, as I mention in the video.
Here’s a little unused raw footage, back in Essex, Vermont:
A Single-Stone Stone Row Along A Ruinous Ridge
Though I’d been in this vicinity, I hadn’t noticed how different this stone row became as it followed the ridge away from more substantial sections of stone row on flatter land. The ridge side is somewhat impassable from tumbled down boulders and rocks, so I followed along the outside edge until that side became a bit thorny and hard to negotiate, then trekked back, taking note of some curious arrangements of stones, which struck me as possibly older, and maybe of Indigenous origin.
A little unused raw field footage of the Stone Row for Substack readers:
While exclusive, that clip is pretty short. Here’s a longer one that was used in part in the published video:
I may do a very speculative post in the future featuring some of the boulders along the “Ruinous Ridge” — I shot quite a bit of video looking at the curious shapes of some of these stones.
Potential Stone Prayers
The mixed-use history of this place makes it difficult to assess whether or not these are Stone Prayers, but they may be. This first one possessed the most characteristics that would recommend this assessment.
Used in part in the final video, here’s some raw field footage of this potential Stone Prayer:
The next two may be ancient Stacked Stone Features and the remains of Stone Prayers, or simply natural conglomerations of rocks, perhaps pulled up and together by the root balls of fallen, old dead trees. I’d encourage a watch of the final video to get a better idea of what these look like.
Glacial Erratics
Shared most of what was shot of the Glacial Erratics I came across that April afternoon in the final video. Although… it doesn’t look like this bit of footage was used (it’s mostly a still shot):
Substantial Potentially Indigenous-Built Stone Row
Given that the last twenty-plus minutes of the final video are dedicated to a slow Walk-Along of this Stone Row, I’m not going to dedicate too much of this companion piece to it. Wanna see this Stone Row? Go watch the video!
Then again? I did shoot a lot of footage of this stone row in the field that afternoon… and I do have some extra footage I can share here exclusively, so… why not? Though their inclusion in the final cut felt a little repetitive, there are a couple of segments shot still worth sharing here as extras:
Hope you’ve enjoyed a little more of the More Mysterious Stonework I found around Indian Brook Reservoir this Spring and documented in my recent video presentation.
As I look through my notes, there are still several more features I can share from this visit which I didn’t include in the final video presentation. This is material of a more speculative nature, so I may share it in a post for paid subscribers here on Substack at some point in the near future. But I’m not sure it’s ready for full-on public consumption. Yet…