Old McDonald had a Farm or two or three

 Today's adventure took us into northeastern Connecticut and one of its numerous state forests. I knew we would find at least one foundation, Connecticut always satisfies, but we found five. There were also some interesting stone walls and an interesting stone pile.

Farm Site One

The first foundation was a colonial-era house. It was built in a "C" shape. In the center of the "C" is a concentration of rocks used for supporting the chimney. 

There was a lot of brush surrounding this foundation but you can see the "C" in the center of the picture. It was not a perfect "C" as one side was longer than the other. A small chamber was built into the chimney foundation, most likely for food storage. A larger foundation was about 30 feet from this one. 

This foundation was larger and was a barn. It wasn't a "bank" barn (a barn built into the side of a hill or mound to make access to the upper story easier). The foundation was about six feet high. There was a smaller wall inside the foundation running parallel to the right side wall. This formed a room with its own door. Its purpose may have been either to separate livestock or keep hay or grain.

Farm Site Two

Following the old road we crossed an old logging site. Before it was logged it may have been a pasture or hay field. On the other side of this field, I came to a second home site. There were remains of another house complete with the remains of a fireplace.

Pardon the quality of the picture, however, you can see the arch above the firebox. This is the first one like this I have seen. The foundation was collapsed and full of debris. The loggers had gone through here and left behind the usual mess. 

Farm Site Three

Further along, we came across three more foundations. The first was a house, again in the "C" shape. 

The picture shows the chimney base in the center. There was also a barn, not a bank barn. This was smaller than the first and in better shape. You can see the wide opening on the right for access.

There was a third structure in this area as well. You can see it at the upper right of the picture and below. I was unable to determine the purpose of it. It was oval-shaped and about two feet deep. Some stones were lining the inner walls. It may have been the original house although because of its shape, I don't believe it was. It may have been a cistern. This was at the top of the hill and there wasn't much in the way of water. 

Other Structures

There were stone walls throughout the area. When it comes to walls and stone rows I have a difficult time determining their origin. This site had several interesting walls. Many of them were, for lack of a better term., "wavy". These are usually associated with serpent effigies.

Above is an example of one. There is also a filled wall. This consists of the original wall with a second wall parallel to this. The space was then filled with smaller stones. 

Farmers would construct this type of wall as a way to store extra stones. Native Americans also would build stone rows like this. The problem I have with this is when I look around the landscape it does not appear this land was cultivated to the extent where the amount of stones used would be turned up. Later in the walk, we came upon two large stone piles. One of these was the largest I have ever come across, maybe six feet high, six feet wide, and I was unable to determine the length as it was surrounded and covered by weeds.

I was unable to get a good picture but you should be able to see it is pretty large. The pile consists of fist-sized stones. The questions this brings up are where did all these stones come from and would a farmer collect all these small stones since there was no obvious use for them?

Finally, there were several interesting stone structures and rows.

This row went along a small ridge. It wasn't high enough to keep animals in or out of a field. It may have been a boundary. What is interesting is it almost looks like it was purposefully designed as seen in the pictures below.

Would a farmer take the time to design a wall like this? I don't believe they would. What would be the reason? As per usual I am left with more questions than answers.