Americasstonehenge

Just a few miles from New Hampshire's coastal beaches is an archeological oddity that stirs the imagination and challenges the history books. Once known as "Mystery Hill," and now "America's Stonehenge," it is a collection of stone chambers and megaliths that represents either a lot of overactive imaginations or one of the most significant sites in the western hemisphere.

Located on a forested, granite knob that feels more like the White Mountains than the New Hampshire coast, the 100 acre site is surrounded and intersected by a number of rock walls that allegedly bear no relation to any known property or other legal boundaries. The site's owners and supporters also point to that fact that many of the stones are standing upright: a style of rock wall building popular in ancient England but not in New England. One of these seemingly random rock walls runs true north/south.

Closer to the center of Mystery Hill, advocates point to a series of larger standing stones that all relate to astronomical phenomena. These stones, more or less equidistant from a central location at or near the top of the hill, align with sunrises and sunsets for a host of events such as the summer solstice, the vernal equinox, winter solstice, and what are claimed to be ancient druidic holidays, as well as other lunar events and positions of prominent stars.

Alongside this viewing point is a series of chambers, stone placements, pictograms and other oddities that are the main attraction. Following the designated walking path, you are first led to a series of unimpressive dugouts/chambers that look very much like recent New England root cellars, and were probably used as such. The path then passes the site of an 18th-19th century homestead, then a 20th century quarry, and some faint grooves in the bedrock that were allegedly created by the ancients as part of an elaborate drain system.

Finally the path leads past a series of partially reconstructed stone chambers...then into the very impressive main chamber. This eerie stone construction called "The Oracle Chamber," is the highlight of the site. It contains a number of airshafts and nooks, which advocates call "oracle speaking tubes" and special "closets" and whatnot.

Leaving the main chamber, visitors climb to the top of the hill and the viewing tower for the supposed calendar cairns. But just off to the side is the overlook for the "sacrificial table," which is promoted as "the most controversial" feature at America's Stonehenge. Whatever it was, it is the most visually compelling evidence that something did happen here. It is a large, flat granite slab with a deep groove chiseled out around the perimeter, with a short groove leading off one of the edges. It is clearly a drainage channel for something that was worked on the table -- no experts are needed to confirm this; you know it immediately when you see it.

What was worked and drained on the table? The official guess is "sacrifices." Then again, it could've been a site for cleaning fish. Added to all the other "evidence," sketchy as it may be, the sacrificial use is quite plausible. Sacrificing deer, perhaps? A pictogram of a stag is found on a rock below. Considering that the "height" of the groove on the table roughly matches the short height of the chamber passageways, one shudders to think what else may have been sacrificed.

Pausing to reflect on that possibility in the dark New Hampshire woods, it's easy to understand how imagination would have an advantage over factual reason, and how past researchers (all advocates) could be inspired to "shape" their findings and restorations. To their credit, the current owners/managers are non-commital about the exact use of the site, and use the quasi-druidic titles out of respect to earlier researchers/plunderers. So what was this place?

Consider first the stone calendar. It is a fact that you could stand almost anywhere in New Hampshire (aka the Granite State) and find granite that aligns with various celestial events. But enough of the calendar stones at America's Stonehenge are similarly shaped and pointed -- and form more or less a circle -- that it would have to be one heck of a geological coincidence. These narrow, pointed stone tablets are wedged into the ground on their sides. No known glacial erratics match these characteristics.

The stone "fences" or rows, on the other hand, are less convincing. While the researchers are confident that they follow no legal boundary ever recorded, it is just as likely that these were some sort of 300 year old agricultural fences as they are ancient. As for the style of standing stones on end...perhaps the farmer was a non-conformist.

The main site, "Mystery Hill" itself, both supports and disputes the "ancient druid" argument. Certainly the stone table and some of the chambers are truly incredible. But these could surely be constructed by indigenous people. Furthermore, some of the chambers were torn down, some were dismantled to use the stones for modern construction...and at least one person built a farmhouse smack in the middle of the whole thing. Quarrying was done on the site; it is estimated that up to half of the original stones were removed. So a lot of the restorations are educated guesses, and some are indeed fanciful reconstructions of things that were never there to begin with. (The current owners have left the overly imaginative reconstructions as they found them, rather than wreak further havoc on the already disheveled site.) To add insult to injury, photos taken during the early 20th century show some chambers that were there then but are no longer...puzzling.

Advocates for America's Stonehenge also point to carbon dating of charcoal and other materials found at the site, at layers in the archeological record that suggest an age of 4,000 years ago. This could be anything, really, and is not necessarily related to the other evidence. This part of New Hampshire has been heavily populated in modern times, located near rich rivers, valuable forests, and the sea. It is likely that the same things that make it desirable today were desirable throughout the area's human history.

Yet other aspects of the center hill provide evidence in favor of the ancient European influence. Carved letters have been copied and shown to nomadic peoples in the Mediterranean region, and they were able to read the writings as if they were written today. Many of the pictograms are in the European cave art style. There is also some evidence in the form of stories handed down to Colonial settlers that all sorts of wild and unspeakable things occured on Mystery Hill at one time. Oral tradition such as this should never be dismissed casually. Evidence of druid-style stonework at other locations, including nearby Lowell, Massachusetts, is also compelling.

So is America's Stonehenge fanciful theory, or an archeological wonder? Add it all together, and you are almost forced to conclude that it is much more than a tourist trap. Indeed, when one considers the carbon dating evidence, the astronomical "coincidences," the external evidence, the carvings, chambers, and that dreadful stone table, it is likely that America's Stonehenge is indeed, America's Stonehenge. But of course, nobody knows what the original Stonehenge was...so too shall the exact purpose of the stones in New Hampshire remain a mystery.

If you live in southeast Maine, Southern New Hampshire, or anywhere east of Worcester, Massachusetts, America's Stonehenge is within a couple hour's drive, and well worth the trip. Or, if you ever travel through southeast New Hampshire, it is a "must see." During our visit to the site an older gentleman from Oregon was touring the ruins, and he said, "It's good to see you bring these two little ladies here to see this...as long as people like you continue to bring children here, somewhere it will spark an interest, and someday when they get older, they might come up with a way to figure out what all this really was."





America's Stonehenge: A Must-See Mystery by Rick Bolger Just a few miles from New Hampshire's coastal beaches is an archeological oddity that stirs the imagination and challenges the history books. Once known as "Mystery Hill," and now "America's Stonehenge," it is a collection of stone chambers and megaliths that represents either a lot of overactive imaginations or one of the most significant sites in the western hemisphere. Located on a forested, granite knob that feels more like the White Mountains than the New Hampshire coast, the 100 acre site is surrounded and intersected by a number of rock walls that allegedly bear no relation to any known property or other legal boundaries. The site's owners and supporters also point to that fact that many of the stones are standing upright: a style of rock wall building popular in ancient England but not in New England. One of these seemingly random rock walls runs true north/south. Closer to the center of Mystery Hill, advocates point to a series of larger standing stones that all relate to astronomical phenomena. These stones, more or less equidistant from a central location at or near the top of the hill, align with sunrises and sunsets for a host of events such as the summer solstice, the vernal equinox, winter solstice, and what are claimed to be ancient druidic holidays, as well as other lunar events and positions of prominent stars. Alongside this viewing point is a series of chambers, stone placements, pictograms and other oddities that are the main attraction. Following the designated walking path, you are first led to a series of unimpressive dugouts/chambers that look very much like recent New England root cellars, and were probably used as such. The path then passes the site of an 18th-19th century homestead, then a 20th century quarry, and some faint grooves in the bedrock that were allegedly created by the ancients as part of an elaborate drain system. Finally the path leads past a series of partially reconstructed stone chambers...then into the very impressive main chamber. This eerie stone construction called "The Oracle Chamber," is the highlight of the site. It contains a number of airshafts and nooks, which advocates call "oracle speaking tubes" and special "closets" and whatnot. Leaving the main chamber, visitors climb to the top of the hill and the viewing tower for the supposed calendar cairns. But just off to the side is the overlook for the "sacrificial table," which is promoted as "the most controversial" feature at America's Stonehenge. Whatever it was, it is the most visually compelling evidence that something did happen here. It is a large, flat granite slab with a deep groove chiseled out around the perimeter, with a short groove leading off one of the edges. It is clearly a drainage channel for something that was worked on the table -- no experts are needed to confirm this; you know it immediately when you see it. What was worked and drained on the table? The official guess is "sacrifices." Then again, it could've been a site for cleaning fish. Added to all the other "evidence," sketchy as it may be, the sacrificial use is quite plausible. Sacrificing deer, perhaps? A pictogram of a stag is found on a rock below. Considering that the "height" of the groove on the table roughly matches the short height of the chamber passageways, one shudders to think what else may have been sacrificed. Pausing to reflect on that possibility in the dark New Hampshire woods, it's easy to understand how imagination would have an advantage over factual reason, and how past researchers (all advocates) could be inspired to "shape" their findings and restorations. To their credit, the current owners/managers are non-commital about the exact use of the site, and use the quasi-druidic titles out of respect to earlier researchers/plunderers. So what was this place? The Stone Cold Facts Consider first the stone calendar. It is a fact that you could stand almost anywhere in New Hampshire (aka the Granite State) and find granite that aligns with various celestial events. But enough of the calendar stones at America's Stonehenge are similarly shaped and pointed -- and form more or less a circle -- that it would have to be one heck of a geological coincidence. These narrow, pointed stone tablets are wedged into the ground on their sides. No known glacial erratics match these characteristics. The stone "fences" or rows, on the other hand, are less convincing. While the researchers are confident that they follow no legal boundary ever recorded, it is just as likely that these were some sort of 300 year old agricultural fences as they are ancient. As for the style of standing stones on end...perhaps the farmer was a non-conformist. The main site, "Mystery Hill" itself, both supports and disputes the "ancient druid" argument. Certainly the stone table and some of the chambers are truly incredible. But these could surely be constructed by indigenous people. Furthermore, some of the chambers were torn down, some were dismantled to use the stones for modern construction...and at least one person built a farmhouse smack in the middle of the whole thing. Quarrying was done on the site; it is estimated that up to half of the original stones were removed. So a lot of the restorations are educated guesses, and some are indeed fanciful reconstructions of things that were never there to begin with. (The current owners have left the overly imaginative reconstructions as they found them, rather than wreak further havoc on the already disheveled site.) To add insult to injury, photos taken during the early 20th century show some chambers that were there then but are no longer...puzzling. Advocates for America's Stonehenge also point to carbon dating of charcoal and other materials found at the site, at layers in the archeological record that suggest an age of 4,000 years ago. This could be anything, really, and is not necessarily related to the other evidence. This part of New Hampshire has been heavily populated in modern times, located near rich rivers, valuable forests, and the sea. It is likely that the same things that make it desirable today were desirable throughout the area's human history. Yet other aspects of the center hill provide evidence in favor of the ancient European influence. Carved letters have been copied and shown to nomadic peoples in the Mediterranean region, and they were able to read the writings as if they were written today. Many of the pictograms are in the European cave art style. There is also some evidence in the form of stories handed down to Colonial settlers that all sorts of wild and unspeakable things occured on Mystery Hill at one time. Oral tradition such as this should never be dismissed casually. Evidence of druid-style stonework at other locations, including nearby Lowell, Massachusetts, is also compelling. So is America's Stonehenge fanciful theory, or an archeological wonder? Add it all together, and you are almost forced to conclude that it is much more than a tourist trap. Indeed, when one considers the carbon dating evidence, the astronomical "coincidences," the external evidence, the carvings, chambers, and that dreadful stone table, it is likely that America's Stonehenge is indeed, America's Stonehenge. But of course, nobody knows what the original Stonehenge was...so too shall the exact purpose of the stones in New Hampshire remain a mystery. * * * * * If you live in southeast Maine, Southern New Hampshire, or anywhere east of Worcester, Massachusetts, America's Stonehenge is within a couple hour's drive, and well worth the trip. Or, if you ever travel through southeast New Hampshire, it is a "must see." During our visit to the site an older gentleman from Oregon was touring the ruins, and he said, "It's good to see you bring these two little ladies here to see this...as long as people like you continue to bring children here, somewhere it will spark an interest, and someday when they get older, they might come up with a way to figure out what all this really was." # # #


		Above: Some of the stone chambers, reconstructions, and unexcavated ruins at "America's Stonehenge." Below: The eerie "Sacrificial Table," which is the singularly most compelling evidence that something unexplained happened at this site. Please click here or on the photo below for a larger image.




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