Ramapo Walls and Stone Mounds at Harriman Park, NYS--Part III Stone Walls

There is a reason they call it the Ramapo Walls. There were lots of stone walls to be found.

Pepper walking over one of the stone walls. To give you perspective he about 18" tall.

Time has not been kind to the Ramapo Walls.

The stone walls were visually spectacular and interesting; and did provide some new interpretations of working with Mother Earth. Clearly, the stone walls and mounds were located over Earth Energies--an accomplished geomancer, or dowser of Earth Energies with some skill and with some effort should be able to  ascertain such. I think that the emphasis on placing stone walls on Earth Energies may be unique to the region as seen with other areas such as the walls by the Wangtown Stone Chambers and or those by the nearby Kings Chamber (see Survey of Sacred Sites in Downstate NY, PART III--The Stone Block Wall) and with Overlook Mountain; assuming my map dowsing of the walls at Overlook mountain are correct. But again I have only visited a few places. I have not see such at High Tor at other places in upstate NY or at places in Vermont such as Calendar 2 in Vermont, or New Hampshire. But then again there may have been stone walls at these places that were subsequently removed. 

What I am saying is that I have noticed an increased emphasis on placing stone walls on energy formation in downstate NY; possibly even in the tai-state area.

There were a variety of stone enclosures

There was a quartz stone in one of the walls and one must wonder if that was intentionally place there and had some purpose.

Several strips of stone walls contained depressed or dimpled areas.   Although it is difficult to see it appears that these depressions  were intentionally created. I believe that this is where pilgrims would sit and do ceremony, pray or meditate.

I am very familiar with stone structures with depressed, or hollowed out, or dimpled areas and have find them from West Virginia to New England as I will discuss in the next section.

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Ramapo Walls and Stone Mounds at Harriman Park, NYS--Part IV Stone Mounds

Ramapo Walls and Stone Mounds at Harriman Park, NYS--Part IV Stone Mounds

Just about all of the stone mounds had depressed, or dimpled areas. As previously noted I believe that pilgrims would sit in the depressed areas.

Pepper (white dog) and Jaeda Bear (black dog) sitting in two of the several depressed areas of a stone mound.

Another angle of the picture above it.

I am very familiar with stone mounds with depressed ares having found them in numerous places;
High Tor NYS DEC Wildlife Mgmt. Area in Middlesex, NY,
 Whangtown Stone Chambers, Part III(of VII)--The St... NY
Part II Stonewall/Ohiopyle Survey--Carrion Run West Cairn Fields WV
Part IV Stonewall Ohiopyle Survey--Ohiopyle State Park PA
As well as NH and VT,

Although it is not clear cut there is a Manitou Stone behind Pepper to the right. The upright flat stone that looks like a grave marking, or headstone. 

I found that many of the stone mounds had intricate stone work detailing aspects of Mother Earth. Clearly the treatment of the stone mounds and walls made some of these markings indistinguishable; but they were there.

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Ramapo Walls and Stone Mounds at Harriman Park, NYS--Part V The Sacred and Profane

Whangtown Stone Chambers-- Part II (of VII) Proof that the Stone Chamber is Sacred

Anyone that appreciates stone chambers will tell you that many of them are sacred. However, are there other barometers we can use to determine whether the Whangtown Stone Chamber was once used for spiritual, or sacred purposes?

There are certainly tools to gauge the sacredness of a place.

Water Vein. There is a water vein running down the center of  the chamber as the picture below shows. 

Staff marks the Water Line.

It is only recently that I have begun dowsing for water at sacred areas. but am fairly confident that there is a water vein bisecting the chamber and running outside. The direction of water flow within the vein is going away from the stone chamber. Bill tells me that the chamber can be wet and that water runs into it, not out of it. But we are talking about a water line below the surface.

What I forgot to do while I was there was to check where the water vein began. A subsequent map dowsing of the picture tells me that the water line begins at the end of the chamber.

My impression is that water domes, or what they call blind springs form in response to prayer/meditation/ceremonty and not water lines. A water dome is water that attempts to bubble to the surface of the earth from below in response to good deeds/thoughts and stops below it reaches the surface and forms a dome. Water veins break from the side of the dome and may rise to the surface as a holy spring. While I feel confident about the water line, I would not be surprised if I was wrong.

All said and done water domes are a very positive sign and indicative the positive, or spiritual activities took place above at some point in time.

The staffs mark the water line inside the stone chamber. It appears that the water line is shallow and begins at the end of the chamber.

 The Vibe As I always say its all about the vibe. As I noted in Vortices and Spirals a positive vibe is an indication that good things, or spiritual activities took place at a location. We leave imprints of our thoughts and deeds wherever we go. These imprints have a morality to them, which a geomancer can gauge. A spiritual fingerprint of sorts.

The problem with using the vibe is that what once was a sacred place has been subsequently desecrated. Unfortunately as I noted in Part I the Whangtown mound has subsequently become a place frequently by the curious and thrill seekers. Archaeologists may have done digs there. And most certainly all sorts of innuendo from Celtic explorers, to UFO's, to a haunted place. All this sours the vibe and turns it negative.

You need to act in a sacred manner when visiting a sacred sites. Keep your thoughts and actions positive while there. Fortunately Bill tells me he has been there to experience several winter solstices; and the search of the web shows he is not alone. This helps reinvigorate and counter the negativity.

Pepper is sitting on a large stone slab about 30 feet in front of the Whangtown Stone Chamber.

The vibe was positive, to maybe slightly positive within the stone chamber.  Most space is neutral at best.

As another guage I looked at locations at the periphery of the sacred stone chamber. The back of the chamber, an area probably less frequented by people, had a slightly positive vibe. Whereas the stone in the picture above had a positive vibe. These areas less frequented by people tell me that the stone chamber was used for spiritual, or healing purposes.

Archeoastronomy. Bill tells me that the chamber opening aligns with the winter solstice; an indication that it was used for holy purposes. Archeoastronomy examines how people in the past looked at the sky and how they created stone and other structures to experience such.

I am not an archeoastronomer, but take Bill at his word. This does not necessarily mean that the purpose of the stone chamber was to solely experience the solstice. There are other things at work there which I shall write about subsequently that give even stronger indications of the spiritual nature of the stone chamber.

Conclusion. These three indicators give weight to the belief that the stone chamber was used for spiritual purposes. As I just noted above there are other things at work that I will write about subsequently that will give further credence to the sacred nature of the main stone chamber at Whangtown.

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Whangtown Stone Chambers, Part III(of VII)--The Stone Pile

Whangtown Stone Chambers, Part VI (of VII) What's with all the markings, holes

While I was taking all this in Bill pointed out some markings inside the chambers. An elongated semicircle was etched into many of the stones within the chamber. Why?

Some people dismiss as recent; not Bill.

What was the purpose? Had it something to do with cracking the stones to make them fit, had something to do with moving stone mounds....or.....?

 Meads Corner's Chamber Above

 Meads Corner's Chamber Above

 Whangtown Chamber Above

Whangtown Chamber Above


Another feature on the hill behind Meads Corners Stone Chamber was holes in many of the large stones. Did these stones fail to crack? Where they...????? 

Bill has measured all of the holes and found that they are consistently 11" or 16" in depth. Interesting.

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Whangtown Stone Chambers, Part VII (FINAL) Bill Pollard Putnam County's Stone Chamber Expert

Whangtown Stone Chambers, Part V (of VII) Meads Corners Stone Chamber

Bill Pollard got the bug for  stone chambers at the age of 10 when his uncle stopped his car to show young Bill the Meads Corners Chamber. Unfortunately, much has changed in the ensuing 50+ years. The pathway of stones creating a walkway were removed and placed behind the stone chamber on the hill. A road has been moved directly in front of the chamber with a lot of traffic. We had to be extremely careful crossing the road.

Bill tells me that all these stone chambers have a similar structure. He's done the work and I believe him. But there was something different about this stone Chamber. Given the processional path of stones that used to be in front of the chamber one wonders whether the stone mound had some funery function.

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Whangtown Stone Chambers, Part VI (of VII) What's with all the markings, holes

Whangtown Stone Chambers, Part IV (of VII) The Other Stone Chamber

There is another stone mound, smaller, but similar. Unfortunately a truck had run over and compromised it. It was hidden in the brush and we would have never found it if Bill did not show it to us.

Here are some pictures.

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Whangtown Stone Chambers, Part V (of VII) Meads Corners Stone Chamber

Whangtown Stone Chambers, Part III(of VII)--The Stone Pile

What drew me to Whangton was a picture of a stone mound I saw on the NEARA webpage

Whangtown Stone Mound 

It was very reminiscent of the stone mounds at High Tor; a dimpled center and appeared to be covering some Earth Chakras. Here are some examples from my Clarks Gully Blog:
The Ledges, Marked Energy Lines, Fare ye well--May 11, 2017 Visit
Ledges Area--Another Example of Incredible Stone Work

Here are some pics

 Staffs mark a few of the Energy Lines; many more were not marked. Three yellow tapes breaking from the red and white staff mark Earth Chakras. Notice the width on the left side.
It was one of the largest stone mounds I had ever seen. It was also connected to a very large stone wall; which begged the question where does the fence end and stone mound begin?

 Pepper in the dimpled center.

 The front of the mound. The staff is in increments of 1 foot.

Janice Carr saying a blessing and laying a red carnation in the center. She is preparing to spread some tobacco. We said prayers and gave blessings at all of the structures. Sadly because we were time constrained we did not meditate at any location.

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Whangtown Stone Chambers, Part IV (of VII) The Other Stone Chamber

Whangtown Stone Chambers, Part VII (FINAL) Bill Pollard Putnam County's Stone Chamber Expert

Kudo's to Bill Pollard for spending the day showing the stone chambers, stone mounds and standing stones. I am not alone. Bill has led many others as well.

Thanks to his effort we know about the stone chambers in Putnam County and the lower Hudson River Valley. He says there are over 200. Thanks to people like him we know about the treasure trove of ancient stone structures, earthen mounds, standing stones...in the states.

Thank someone you know for their work in your home town.

Thanks, Bill!

 Bill on the right with me.

 Bill spreading tobacco and giving a blessing at the stone mound.

Bill petting Pepper.

PS To see other Surveys click on "Survey" in "labels" section below or on the Upper right.

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Whangtown Stone Chambers--Part I (of VII) Overview and the Main Chamber