I was looking over an area on the aerials with the property overlay for Cumberland County a few days back and I was scoping out an area Guy and I had scoured looking for stones shown on the Hartman Maps.We ended up finding quite a few.I noticed a couple corners that are State on one side and Sand Company on the other and I thought there might be stones on the corners since there were stones on many of the other corners and being they were on Sand Company land and the company is actively expanding their wanton destruction of all their land in that area I had better find any stones to be found before the plow them under which they often do trying to get a few more feet that really aren't theirs to destroy.I"ve seen it happen to several stones in this area. They have already cut almost all the woods that are theirs down and sold the wood. I used to roam these woods back in the 80's and early 90's,it's a waste land now. In any case I did find a stone on the first corner I checked.I had picked the coords off the overlay and when about 70 ft east of my pick I found a state sign and some yellow ribbons so I scoured the area thinking the overlay was 70 ft off which isn't uncommon at all,sometimes it's much more.I found nothing here and I didn't want to go to the exact point since it was lower down toward a swamp and thicker but I figure it's 90 degrees and I"m melting so i better check now or I"ll be gone in ten minutes so I plowed my way thru and just as I noticed a big pine in front of me with some very old blazes on it I stepped on something quite hard and when I peeled apart the Black Huckleberry I found this.
I Had forgot to mention I stopped off first at one of my most favorite stones and one of Eli Budd's property markers (He owned Cumberland Furnace) These stones (I will show one more) were placed in the 1830"s.This stone has no name on the Hartman Maps but it does have character.It's 3 inches below my belt so it's almost three feet high. Here it is.
I then proceeded SW a half mile to the next Sand Company corner and found nothing.I had been in this location decades ago and there is an area right next to it that obviously was a persons yard and house at one time so they may have taken any stone there or the nearby sand road could have been the reason for it's disappearance since then. I then bushwacked back to the power line and headed for an old friend, the Bogstone.
I remember as Guy and I were searching for this stone our plot had fell just a few feet west of a sand road and we scoured the area and could find nothing. We were standing in the middle of the sand roadboth feeling dejected when one of us (I forget who) seen it about eight feet off the east side of the road and yelled there it is! The stone wasn't very big at least above ground but easily visible from the road,it apparently wasn't very big below ground either for some hopefully ignorant jackass has stolen it.I remembered quite well the exact spot where it was but still I scoured the whole area hoping my memory was fuzzy. A sharp bend in the road allowed for positive spot identification even without the gps coords I had on the gps. I went back to the spot I knew it was at and was standing there either crying or sweating I couldn't tell which when I stepped into a hole filled with leaves.I dug out the leaves thinking it was a stump hole but no wood to be found and no humus either but sand under the leaves. This was the hole the stone was yanked out of. The whole stone couldn't have weighed over twenty pound by the size of the hole.Here is the work of said Jackass.
Have you ever wanted to knock someones teeth out but theirs no face there to aim at? That was me about then. This stone was andexcepting one nasty looking but maybe doable mudhole is still drivable to.I had another stone 1700 feet away known as the Keystone to check.It is near a cycle trail which runs down an old abandoned wagon road.Could someone have stolen it as well? A fat boy running through 1700 feet of waist high huckleberry for 1700 ft in 93 degree weather does not make a pretty site.When I got there I could not find it! I started to hyperventilate.I had some strange fantasies of what i would do to said Jackass when I caught him.I collapsed into the cycle trail and laid panting/hyperventilating till a voice in my head said "Drink or Die" I dug out the water and guzzled it.Promptly got the hiccups which did not stop till I threw up you guessed it,pure water. No sweat, I had more...well yes their was sweat aplenty as well. Once I calmed down I decided to give it another go.The hucklberry was chest high so I figure maybe it wasn't as close to the trail as I thought it was.After a few minutes I found it! The Keystone lives! I had forgotten how big it is.It would not be an easy theft. If Jackass steals this one I may just decide to leave Jackass alone. Here is the stone. I have no idea how much is below ground but the above ground portion looks quite hefty.
Now for the question.Should I replace the Bogstone? The original I"m afraid is lost forever since Jackass left no address and the trail was cold. I have the exact location evidenced by the hole would it be proper to replace it? It is also an Eli Budd Corner from the 1830's as well as the Keystone also. It is next to a road so if I replace it with a small stone it's likely to disappear as well but I could keep this game forever or realistically maybe another twenty years if my health holds out. Or I could sink a monster in there and say "There Jackass lets see you heft that you fairy!" I have ropes and pulleys and have a basic understanding of levers and such
. If anyone has any info on the identity of Jackass please PM me.
I Had forgot to mention I stopped off first at one of my most favorite stones and one of Eli Budd's property markers (He owned Cumberland Furnace) These stones (I will show one more) were placed in the 1830"s.This stone has no name on the Hartman Maps but it does have character.It's 3 inches below my belt so it's almost three feet high. Here it is.
I then proceeded SW a half mile to the next Sand Company corner and found nothing.I had been in this location decades ago and there is an area right next to it that obviously was a persons yard and house at one time so they may have taken any stone there or the nearby sand road could have been the reason for it's disappearance since then. I then bushwacked back to the power line and headed for an old friend, the Bogstone.
I remember as Guy and I were searching for this stone our plot had fell just a few feet west of a sand road and we scoured the area and could find nothing. We were standing in the middle of the sand roadboth feeling dejected when one of us (I forget who) seen it about eight feet off the east side of the road and yelled there it is! The stone wasn't very big at least above ground but easily visible from the road,it apparently wasn't very big below ground either for some hopefully ignorant jackass has stolen it.I remembered quite well the exact spot where it was but still I scoured the whole area hoping my memory was fuzzy. A sharp bend in the road allowed for positive spot identification even without the gps coords I had on the gps. I went back to the spot I knew it was at and was standing there either crying or sweating I couldn't tell which when I stepped into a hole filled with leaves.I dug out the leaves thinking it was a stump hole but no wood to be found and no humus either but sand under the leaves. This was the hole the stone was yanked out of. The whole stone couldn't have weighed over twenty pound by the size of the hole.Here is the work of said Jackass.
Have you ever wanted to knock someones teeth out but theirs no face there to aim at? That was me about then. This stone was andexcepting one nasty looking but maybe doable mudhole is still drivable to.I had another stone 1700 feet away known as the Keystone to check.It is near a cycle trail which runs down an old abandoned wagon road.Could someone have stolen it as well? A fat boy running through 1700 feet of waist high huckleberry for 1700 ft in 93 degree weather does not make a pretty site.When I got there I could not find it! I started to hyperventilate.I had some strange fantasies of what i would do to said Jackass when I caught him.I collapsed into the cycle trail and laid panting/hyperventilating till a voice in my head said "Drink or Die" I dug out the water and guzzled it.Promptly got the hiccups which did not stop till I threw up you guessed it,pure water. No sweat, I had more...well yes their was sweat aplenty as well. Once I calmed down I decided to give it another go.The hucklberry was chest high so I figure maybe it wasn't as close to the trail as I thought it was.After a few minutes I found it! The Keystone lives! I had forgotten how big it is.It would not be an easy theft. If Jackass steals this one I may just decide to leave Jackass alone. Here is the stone. I have no idea how much is below ground but the above ground portion looks quite hefty.
Now for the question.Should I replace the Bogstone? The original I"m afraid is lost forever since Jackass left no address and the trail was cold. I have the exact location evidenced by the hole would it be proper to replace it? It is also an Eli Budd Corner from the 1830's as well as the Keystone also. It is next to a road so if I replace it with a small stone it's likely to disappear as well but I could keep this game forever or realistically maybe another twenty years if my health holds out. Or I could sink a monster in there and say "There Jackass lets see you heft that you fairy!" I have ropes and pulleys and have a basic understanding of levers and such
. If anyone has any info on the identity of Jackass please PM me.
