A late winter walk...

[ebinmaine 67,309]

Gonna be coming up on calendar spring here soon but there's still plenty of winter left here in Maine. 

 

We took a walk part way up the mountain across the street this afternoon. 

 

Air temp was 29° and there was some wind gusts easily over 20, some 25. 

Bit chilly. 

Snow depth varies greatly this time of year. 

Anywhere from bare ground to 15" of snow. 

 

 

[Sparky-(Admin) 21,312]

  Best part about the trees with out their leaves is the views ya can get. 

[ebinmaine 67,309]

4 minutes ago, Sparky said:

  Best part about the trees with out their leaves is the views ya can get. 

Yessir. 

Next time you're in Maine stop up and we'll take you to that spot..

 

[Pullstart 62,801]

No snow left here, EB.  Hopefully, till end of year we’ll have brown and green...  It’s almost tractor show season!

[ebinmaine 67,309]

6 hours ago, pullstart said:

No snow left here, EB.  Hopefully, till end of year we’ll have brown and green...  It’s almost tractor show season!

Yeah it sure is!!

 

And hiking!

We've already got 5 trips planned and reservations made. Several others in thought process. 

 

Trina and I were just chatting last night about the @stevebo meet n greet.... 

[gwest_ca-(File Mod) 11,033]

Odd to see a stone fence in a hilly area like that. Perhaps it was a property marker for a homesteader many years ago?

Common to see them here on land that was suitable for farming.

 

In 1967 I worked for a land surveyor. He had a contract to redo a township boundary that was previously surveyed in 1867. Each side is approximately 11 miles long.

After 2 months of looking I found one of the original corner-stone pyramids (3'x3'x3') marking a corner that had settled into the ground after 100 years.

1867 was the year of Canada's confederation so found it very interesting.

The employer was also able to find and purchase the original surveyor's field notes recorded in small hard-cover books. Off-topic comments throughout the books were like a personal diary.

 

Garry

[ebinmaine 67,309]

2 minutes ago, gwest_ca said:

Odd to see a stone fence in a hilly area like that

 

Not at all odd around here Garry.

 

This area was cleared to some extent for farming back in the early 1700s and used until the West was cleared between 1840 and 1880. Many of our forests are now well over 100 years old or even more.

 

There are literally thousands of those stone walls all over the place anywhere from the deepest of valleys to medium size mountain tops.

 

This hill in particular faces South, Southwest so the sun exposure would be a little better than the other side of the mountain and likely it was better utilized for that reason.

 

[mrc 811]

another reason for the stone walls on a hill may have been to mark a person's wood lot. back in the 1600 and 1700's there were no modern fuels that we use today. (i.e. coal, propane, natural gas, oil or electricity )  just wood. wood was used for all heating, cooking and washing.

regards mike in mass.

[ebinmaine 67,309]

Just now, mrc said:

another reason for the stone walls on a hill may have been to mark a person's wood lot. back in the 1600 and 1700's there were no modern fuels that we use today. (i.e. coal, propane, natural gas, oil or electricity )  just wood. wood was used for all heating, cooking and washing.

regards mike in mass.

Absolutely true.

 

Could have been an animal enclosure. Separating different crops. Border line of properties obviously.

 

One thing I found interesting that I just learned maybe two or three years ago is that a stone wall was often put in the middle of one's own land simply to get the rocks out of the way. Usually something like that will have a space 6 to 10 ft wide halfway through or near one of the ends.

 

[lynnmor 7,302]

I have stone walls around most of my property.  The farmers years ago and even today needed get the stone out of the field, so they stacked them forming a fence.  Today, very few do any more than push them against the neat old fences built when men were men.  One of my wonderful neighbors threatened to have me arrested if I set foot on his property, so I can't even maintain or repair the fence, (you can't build half of a stone wall) such is the state of society today.