All,
I was looking through some of the maps I have acquired and noticed on one map from 1878 there were two incised stones mentioned on it. After spending some time figuring out where the map was taking me I determined that one of the stones was in the middle of the power lines in Medford north of Atco Dragway. I had actually looked for it on a PBX hike and concluded it was no longer there. The map also shows a second incised stone and I made a decision to look for it this morning.
The Beginning Stone marked IH is in the power line right of way, and the one above it with the arrow is the one I was attempting to find.
The IH was Isaac Haines. There was a farmer named Isaac Haines living in Medford until his death in 1892. It might be him.
To get to this area legally is somewhat of a challenge and I had to meander through the woods watching my GPS to keep off of private land. Along the way I found quite a few of their property corners. Anyway, I finally reached the power lines and walked to the edge of it where 60 feet away in the most dense briers was the stone I was seeking. It took forever to get to it and my GPS pointed me to this mess underneath a partially downed tree. I fired up my other GPS to confirm the location and started poking away with my walking stick. After a minute of poking I hit stone.
I used my body to push away the briers and ended up with this.
A little scraping and the light of day hit it. I could feel it moving making me suspicious nothing was incised on it.
With a little help from the chalk Jessica gave me yesterday you can see the partial letter H as well as the full letter I that was scratched into it over 140 years ago.
I placed it back, covered it over, and returned to the power lines to search some more. It is really remote and quiet around there so I was quite relaxed while wandering. I found a little path that cut across the power lines to the edge of the woods on the other side. I turned and looked around and all of a sudden there was a man walking toward my direction. I took off my orange hat and watched him come closer and disappear behind the vegetation near me. I stood on the edge of the woods waiting for him to approach but he never came. For ten minutes I looked around and never saw him but he had to be there. Then he came into view walking back in the same direction as before. I then realized he had a truck and was heading back to it. I was certain he had to have noticed me but why was he walking away?
I knew for certain I was not on private property so I decided to continue my search in the woods for another stone. I found it quickly and returned to the power lines and saw the man entering his truck. I decided to wait him out and sat down and texted Jessica. Soon it became apparent I was wasting time so I got up and headed his way. As I got closer I realized he had exited his truck and was 50 feet from me walking towards me with a handful of batteries. It turns out he was a really nice hunter who was replacing the batteries in his game camera. He had gone into the woods earlier and retrieved the flash card and when playing it back in his truck he found the card to be empty. So he was returning to put new batteries in it. We had a nice 15 minute talk.
Guy
I was looking through some of the maps I have acquired and noticed on one map from 1878 there were two incised stones mentioned on it. After spending some time figuring out where the map was taking me I determined that one of the stones was in the middle of the power lines in Medford north of Atco Dragway. I had actually looked for it on a PBX hike and concluded it was no longer there. The map also shows a second incised stone and I made a decision to look for it this morning.
The Beginning Stone marked IH is in the power line right of way, and the one above it with the arrow is the one I was attempting to find.
The IH was Isaac Haines. There was a farmer named Isaac Haines living in Medford until his death in 1892. It might be him.
To get to this area legally is somewhat of a challenge and I had to meander through the woods watching my GPS to keep off of private land. Along the way I found quite a few of their property corners. Anyway, I finally reached the power lines and walked to the edge of it where 60 feet away in the most dense briers was the stone I was seeking. It took forever to get to it and my GPS pointed me to this mess underneath a partially downed tree. I fired up my other GPS to confirm the location and started poking away with my walking stick. After a minute of poking I hit stone.
I used my body to push away the briers and ended up with this.
A little scraping and the light of day hit it. I could feel it moving making me suspicious nothing was incised on it.
With a little help from the chalk Jessica gave me yesterday you can see the partial letter H as well as the full letter I that was scratched into it over 140 years ago.
I placed it back, covered it over, and returned to the power lines to search some more. It is really remote and quiet around there so I was quite relaxed while wandering. I found a little path that cut across the power lines to the edge of the woods on the other side. I turned and looked around and all of a sudden there was a man walking toward my direction. I took off my orange hat and watched him come closer and disappear behind the vegetation near me. I stood on the edge of the woods waiting for him to approach but he never came. For ten minutes I looked around and never saw him but he had to be there. Then he came into view walking back in the same direction as before. I then realized he had a truck and was heading back to it. I was certain he had to have noticed me but why was he walking away?
I knew for certain I was not on private property so I decided to continue my search in the woods for another stone. I found it quickly and returned to the power lines and saw the man entering his truck. I decided to wait him out and sat down and texted Jessica. Soon it became apparent I was wasting time so I got up and headed his way. As I got closer I realized he had exited his truck and was 50 feet from me walking towards me with a handful of batteries. It turns out he was a really nice hunter who was replacing the batteries in his game camera. He had gone into the woods earlier and retrieved the flash card and when playing it back in his truck he found the card to be empty. So he was returning to put new batteries in it. We had a nice 15 minute talk.
Guy
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