West Then North

We have reached a corner that is adjacent to rich river bottom land.  Once again the border of our land is defined by stone removed from the field.  This line is less than straight and to the right is a huge mass of simply dumped stone.  Fallen leaves have rotted to become soil in the more than one century that has passed since stones were placed here.

A more recent event can also be seen in the top left corner of the photo.  The original farm barn was struck by lightening and burned to the ground about 1960.  The remains of the fire were hauled up the hill and dumped here over the edge.  When the fire debris was all placed here, what became the gravel bank was opened to provide fill to cover the mess.  When walking here an occasional encounter with protruding metal happens.

This is the view looking Eastward along this end of the property line.  The stone work is mine and my goal was to rebuild the original wall as far as the White Pine tree.  The steel pipe that was driven into the ground to define the property line is peeking up out of the wall.  The reconstruction of the wall was carefully done to preserve the original placement of this marker.

Looking to the North one can see more of a decent stone wall and a much improved Gravel Bank Road.  Goldenrod growing here along with wild berry canes really need to be removed.

Here we have returned to River Road.  The driveway is much improved from what we originally found.  Adjacent to the hill is another place where stone cleared from the field was simply dumped.  A bend in the road was needed to get around that pile.  Much of that removed stone was used to the build the wall just out of sight to the right.

At this point our land is only forty feet wide.  The right turn onto the lane is where our homestead opens up to its thirty-six acres.  The original farm contained a long stretch of desirable river bottom land that was sold first as house sized lots.  The retreating glacier left behind many interesting land forms up our hill creating an attractive site for a primitive homestead.  We have called this land our own since 1994.  Perhaps the time is approaching when this treasure should be placed in the care of younger people.