6 foot rock stacks in virginia

[ekeverette]

On my 2012 hike I came across many 5 to 6 foot stacks of rocks I believe a few miles before I got to sarver hollow shelter. My first thought, maybe civil war barriers? When I got to route 621 I asked a fellow, he said there were farms up there my years ago. It just seemed odd, because the mountain top was no more than 100 yards across. Im from flat country, just seems like the rain water would run right off. Do any of you old timers know if this is correct.

[hubcap]

There were farms up in the mountains all along Appalachia, even among the rocks. It was a hard life. The lake at Fontana Dam displaced families when it was built. Much of Shenandoah National Park was private farm land at one time. There's a lot of history along the trail.

[Starchild]

Rocks that could be moved out of the field were commonly moved to the large rock a farmer could not move, giving rise to those piles. They were also placed on the boarders of the fields creating rock walls.

[rafe]

You'll find stone fences deep in the woods throughout New England. All these woods are second, third, fourth growth. Approximately none of it is virgin growth. It's not that they enjoyed making fences, but they needed to clear the biggest rocks from the fields, and they had to put those rocks somewhere...

When I was helping build water bars across the trail near RPH shelter in NY, we "borrowed" big rocks from a stone fence a few dozen yards off the trail.

[Grampie]

When this land was settled and farmed most of the work to prepare fields was either done by hand or with a single furrow mule drawn plow. When they turned up a rock they would just pile them up, for later use, and plant around the pile. A lot of these piles remain today long after the farmers have moved on.

[Odd Man Out]

Yes I too saw those on my section hike two years ago. At first I was confused but then reasoned an explanation that matched those above. All through that part of the country you will see stone walls made from field stones. They had to move the stones from the fields to make the land suitable for cultivation. Down in the valleys, the stones they cleared also served as fences to keep livestock in place and to mark field/property boundaries. My thought is that up on that ridge, there was no need to fence in livestock or mark you property line (the ridge does that for you). So my guess was that they just moved each rock the shortest distance possible, producing a bunch of randomly spaced piles. Not far from there (I think it was on the climb up to Dragon's Tooth, going NOBO), there was an old cabin and a wall going straight up the side of the mountain. It was hard enough just walking up that slope. I can't imagine how hard it was to build a stone wall there. We are wimps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdCL9k0iRxA

Here is a song about the stone walls of the Shenandoah Valley by Robin and Linda Williams (first verse and chorus)

I make my home In Stone Wall Country
Down a crooked lane
Where the fields steep and rocky
Took such toil to claim
Now the plows run deep in Stone Wall Country
The ground gives back good yields
And the rocks that blocked the furrows
So worrisome to wield
Stand in fences round the field

I may leave the Shenandoah
But shell never leave my heart
Stone Wall Country
Clear-eyed daughter of the stars

[ALLEGHENY]

Some of those walls had to have been built by slave labor. That's what I was thinking when I went through that slave state.

[tiptoe]

Here's a link to a previous discussion. Ah, the beauty of a functioning search!

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/arch.../t-106256.html

[Rain Man]

IIRC, Model T talks about those exact rock piles in his book "Walking on the Happy Side of Misery."

[atraildreamer]

You'll find stone fences deep in the woods throughout New England. All these woods are second, third, fourth growth. Approximately none of it is virgin growth. It's not that they enjoyed making fences, but they needed to clear the biggest rocks from the fields, and they had to put those rocks somewhere...

When I was helping build water bars across the trail near RPH shelter in NY, we "borrowed" big rocks from a stone fence a few dozen yards off the trail.

Rocks were a primary crop in New England! The freeze-thaw cycle of the weather would push the rocks to the surface. As Rafe says, when you hike in the New England woods you will be crossing many stone walls that were made as the farmers fought an unwinnable, ongoing battle to keep their fields clear of rocks.

[Puddlefish]

Rocks were a primary crop in New England! The freeze-thaw cycle of the weather would push the rocks to the surface. As Rafe says, when you hike in the New England woods you will be crossing many stone walls that were made as the farmers fought an unwinnable, ongoing battle to keep their fields clear of rocks.

I'm always amazed when I find these walls in hard to reach locations, and consider that people lived and worked there.

WolfTreeP[1].jpg

This elevation profile includes the Bunker Farm, where they cleared 20 acres of hill top around 1805 or so. Walls with big rocks everywhere. About 400 ft elevation to where the house (WT3) sat at the end of their 1/2 mile driveway, then about a mile back up a 500 foot hill to the nearest town. Sections with a 26° grade. Imagine that walk to school, then walk back home, climb the rest of the way up the hill (WT5) to tend the sheep/cattle, haul out trees and move rocks.

Back in my day, we had to walk to the end of the block to catch the bus.

[Traveler]

Some of those walls had to have been built by slave labor. That's what I was thinking when I went through that slave state.

Though its possible, its unlikely in the higher elevations of the AT. River bottom land or valleys were far more suitable for agriculture and timber operations where the larger farms/businesses were that could afford to use slave labor. In the higher elevations spring comes late, winter early, and the terrain is not conducive to agriculture on a scale that would have required more labor than a family could provide. Most of these were subsistence farms, on land few others wanted and who's owners would not have been able to afford slaves. Just having a beast of burden to plow a field or carry them into town and back would have been a reach for most of those folks.

[Miel]

Though its possible, its unlikely in the higher elevations of the AT. River bottom land or valleys were far more suitable for agriculture and timber operations where the larger farms/businesses were that could afford to use slave labor. In the higher elevations spring comes late, winter early, and the terrain is not conducive to agriculture on a scale that would have required more labor than a family could provide. Most of these were subsistence farms, on land few others wanted and who's owners would not have been able to afford slaves. Just having a beast of burden to plow a field or carry them into town and back would have been a reach for most of those folks.

Reminds me of Mt. Equinox, VT. The men returned home from the Civil War with tales of how much easier farming was in the midwest, that they learned from their fellow soldiers. So that VT area was abandoned by the soldiers, who headed west and their families followed. Now home to a monastery and the graves of the dog Mr. Barbo, "shot by a vicious hunter" and another pup who died up there.

Whatever the varied origins of these stone piles, they are beautiful - and very Zen.

[Puddlefish]

While we're on the topic of zen rockpiles. Don't build cairns yourself, to express your artistic side. They're important navigation aids in certain places.

[ALLEGHENY]

Though its possible, its unlikely in the higher elevations of the AT. River bottom land or valleys were far more suitable for agriculture and timber operations where the larger farms/businesses were that could afford to use slave labor. In the higher elevations spring comes late, winter early, and the terrain is not conducive to agriculture on a scale that would have required more labor than a family could provide. Most of these were subsistence farms, on land few others wanted and who's owners would not have been able to afford slaves. Just having a beast of burden to plow a field or carry them into town and back would have been a reach for most of those folks.

I walked past walls of piled rock that stretched for a thousand yards or more and thought it would take much
man power to gather, and pile them. More than a single farmers family and several generations could manage. I contend slaves were used by early land grant owners.

http://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/17888
http://unknownnolonger.vahistorical.org/browse/location

[Traveler]

I walked past walls of piled rock that stretched for a thousand yards or more and thought it would take much
man power to gather, and pile them. More than a single farmers family and several generations could manage. I contend slaves were used by early land grant owners.

http://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/17888
http://unknownnolonger.vahistorical.org/browse/location

Similar sights can be seen in New England with massive rock walls meandering through the forests, miles and miles of them, built by generational farmers without much if any slave labor. Its not hard to make these structures using an animal drawn sledge. Leverage and two people can move a surprising number of rocks, some of significant size, using this method. It can also take a number of years for seasonal cycles to move rocks to the surface once clearing starts so the walls we see today are usually the results of removal over years. We used similar techniques when I was a kid in Maine, clearing "pop up" rocks out of pasture land where mechanical equipment had problems going. A couple of days of pushing, pulling, and hauling delivered a considerable payload to the walls around the pastures.

I don't mean to argue, but wanted to point out its pretty remarkable what relatively few people can accomplish with these kinds of structures over a short time.

[ALLEGHENY]

King James II sent plenty of Slaves to the colonies in the 1600's. They were mostly Irish.

[Bronk]

The ridgeline above Sarver Hollow shelter used to be planted with apple trees. The farmer that built the farmhouse at Sarver Hollow piled up the rocks on the ridge to make room for the trees. This has been discussed here several times before and this is the only explanation that was proven correct despite several people speculating about ovens and other such structures...the piles of rocks had no function in and of themselves, they were just rocks that were piled up to get them out of the way.

[Traveler]

The ridgeline above Sarver Hollow shelter used to be planted with apple trees. The farmer that built the farmhouse at Sarver Hollow piled up the rocks on the ridge to make room for the trees. This has been discussed here several times before and this is the only explanation that was proven correct despite several people speculating about ovens and other such structures...the piles of rocks had no function in and of themselves, they were just rocks that were piled up to get them out of the way.

Best way to manage a lot of rocks is put 'em where you ain't.

[TheDuckOnTheJunebug]

I grew up right near the Delaware Water Gap. We call the long piles "stonerows" and they dot the whole countryside, both in areas that are currently still farmed and along the mountain ridges. Pretty sure I once ran across an advertisement for auction of new farmland on a ridge above Stroudsburg (either on the ridge between Fox Gap and the Water Gap or the next ridge north) from ~1910 or so. I recall being surprised that it was so recent.