A Perched Boulder in Berlin, Massachusetts in April 2022. Photo by Mike Luoma.

A Year Set in Stone

My 2022 in Stone Site Investigations

When you’re on the right path, things seem to fall into place, and my journey looking into what remains of possible Indigenous stonework continues to be rewarding.

I’ve just released my new book on investigating the stonework, Ancient Stone Mysteries of New England (details at http://AncientStoneMysteries.com).

My Facebook Group, Ancient Stone Mysteries of New England (https://www.facebook.com/groups/ancientstonemysteries), may crack 12K members before year’s end. And the many different paths I followed this year investigating ancient stone mysteries in the New England woods led to places full of intriguing stonework and other interesting curiosities.

What follows is a chronicle of this year’s explorations, with links to articles and videos for deeper dives where so desired…

Redemption Rock in Princeton, Massachusetts. Photo by Mike Luoma.

January

As the year began, Vermont’s stonework slept under a blanket of snow. With little to see outdoors, I went through videos and photographs from the last six months which had piled up as the result of a midsummer 2021 road trip. I’d also recently visited Gates Pond in Berlin and Redemption Rock in Princeton while in Massachusetts over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. There was plenty to sort through.

I’d discovered Gates Pond had once been known as Kequasagansett…

Rediscovering Kequasagansett

Map Detail from the Map of the Gates Pond Trails from The Berlin Conservation Commission’s Trail Map. Photo/Map Credit: Berlin Conservation Commission. Available at TownOfBerlin.com.

And there on the trail map for Gates, I’d found there was a King Philip Rock. I’d just been given historian Lisa Brooks’ Our Beloved Kin… as a gift, and been wrapped up in reading it. The book is a re-evaluation of King Philip’s War, the first Indigenous attempt to stop the invasion of their lands by…