Pro tip: That old stone wall in Vermont might not be a boundary marker

I was hiking near Stowe last month and found this really old stone wall running through the woods. Some folks think it's just a property line from the 1800s, but I noticed the stones were stacked in a way that looked more defensive than practical. Could it be a forgotten fortification from the French and Indian War? What do you all think, was it built to mark territory or to keep something out?

2 comments

2 Comments

morgan_butler22d ago

Whoa, hold on, you might be onto something. I've seen old stone walls all over New England and never thought about them being anything but property lines. But here's the thing - have you looked into whether it might have been built by Indigenous people way before the French and Indian War? Some tribes in that area were known to stack stones for hunting blinds or defensive positions, and those would look a lot different than a farmer's boundary wall. Might be worth checking with a local archaeologist before you jump to the fortification theory.

lilycraig22d ago

Morgan, what kind of stone alignment would point to Indigenous use versus colonial boundary marking?