Some people just take a walk

While my brain doesn't always turn on or off at the times I want or need it to, it's been in an "on" mode the last few times I hiked at Flat Rock. Specifically, I've been noticing specific areas where beech predominate, or where small dense hemlock groves darken the ground. In other places, craggy rock from the size of breadboxes on up to the size of washing machines, all weighing more than any person would care to deal with, seem to have naturally collected in patches. Stone walls divide the landscape, sometimes at bizarre angles to each other. So, I've been asking myself "why," and trying to develop the ability to come up with some answers.

I've been reading a great book, "Reading the Forested Landscape," by Tom Wessels. While the Fitchburg Public Library doesn't carry it, it's available (despite cutbacks) through an interlibrary loan (once I return it). Wessels hasn't answered all of my questions, but has at least provided a framework around which to interpret what I've been seeing.

So far I've learned that most stone walls in New England were built not as property line markers, but as a means to contain livestock, and specifically sheep. Most walls were built between 1810 and 1840 when a sheep craze hit New England. While Wessels says that stone walls needed to be at least 4 feet high to contain livestock, he also notes that often brush would be piled on top to supplement the height achieved by the stone. (He notes that walls along a cultivated area often contain smaller, fist-sized rock that were forced up by frost in winter months, and removed by farmers to nearby walls.) It makes me think of some large areas enclosed by stone walls, and also some smaller clear livestock pen areas that I've seen.

There are so many clues and indicators as to past land use, and why certain species or mixes of species grow in certain areas, that it's hard to summarize in a brief blog entry, but I'm hoping to be able to take some more educated guesses about some specific areas of Flat Rock and surrounding lands over the next few months. I'll post them as I do.

So, right now we have a number of areas on our radar screen for future blogs:
-more about Girl Scout Camp Wakitatina
-a livestock pen off the Overlook Trail
-various concentrations of trees along the Pipeline Path
-an apparent good-size piece of walled-in land off Flat Rock Road, and
-the unique habitat and vegetation of the high, rocky point of Flat Rock Road, what some refer to as "The Bald."