Ceremonial Stone Landscape- Maybe

The other day Jack and I hiked a trail known as Tri-Town Blue Loop in North Stonington CT. I watched a video posted by another TouTuber and thought it might be interesting. I had no idea how interesting it was. 

It wasn’t long before I started seeing interesting man-made stone formations. The further I went into the area, the more I came across.  Here is my video of the hike. Tri-town Blue Trail 

I want to share some more commentary on my hike. Poor planning meant my battery was running low, so I needed to cut down on my video. Of course, this was right as I was in the heart of the stone structures. I will be going back as soon as possible and will make sure I have a recharging device. 

I haven’t found any “official” information as to whether this is a recognized Ceremonial Stone Landscape (CSL) or not, but I did find some information on signs posted in the area. The area is known as Pequot land. I think it’s a CSL for several reasons. I counted at least ten stone prayers. I define a stone prayer as a boulder or boulders with smaller stones placed on top of them. There was one particularly nice one. 

There were also several cairns and larger stone piles. The piles were hand-stacked and consisted of similar size stones. The area itself did not appear to have been cultivated or improved in any way. There were also many stone rows. These rows were massive, most being between three and five high. They were well made with some architectural elements and niches. I find it hard to believe they were made by the farmer. 

As I normally do, I wondered where all the stones came from. I can’t even estimate how many stones were used. I did come across a black granite quarry which possibly been one source for the stones but would the quarrymen have bothered to build these walls?

I also came across an interesting stone enclosure. It was a semicircle and a rectangle if that makes sense. There was also a “pen” made from the same stone as the rows. It was square and I don’t think there was an opening as would be expected if it was a livestock pen   However, by this time Jack and I were in a hurry to be done. I will go back to this later. 

There was also an old mill dam and pond. I did not see evidence of a foundation but I will spend more time here next time. This was a four-mile hike and although not extremely difficult it was for this old man. I took an alternate trail cutting off about a mile. Next time I’ll come in from the other end of the loop.