Winter Solstice
Winter Solstice Sunrise
Hi all! Last Thursday, I went to observe the Winter Solstice Sunrise at an ancient Native American viewing site. It was sponsored by a local conservation organization and sounded pretty interesting.
I got there just as it was lightening up (6:45 AM) and about 40 people eventually came. There is an Observing Stone at one end of the large meadow and a Sighting Notch at the opposite end. You can see these structures in the pictures below.
At sunrise, we all walked to the Observing Stone--the large, flat one--but unfortunately, it was too overcast and we couldn't see a thing. Sigh. But our guide gave a nice lecture on the sighting notch and how it was used, plus some of the research he had done on ancient sighting stones and other Native American complexes in the surrounding areas.
So even though we didn't see anything, it was still fun to see the site itself on the actual Winter Solstice and experience some connection to the early people who used it. They also claim to have a Summer Solstice viewing site from the same Observing Stone. It might be fun to check it out in June (if I can get up that early, hehe).
There is more about Half-Moon Meadow at this link, including how the sunrise is “supposed” to look, hehe. Oh, well, maybe next year.
http://www.neara.org/Boudillion/halfmoon01.htm
There are ancient Native American lithic sites all around us here in New England-that predate colonial stone building efforts by centuries. They are, however, lost in the huge number of stone walls that now permeate this area and are usually mistaken for colonial structures. Still, if you know where to look, such sites are commonplace enough, I guess, and still known and used by modern Native American people. Understandably, they try to keep these sites secret to avoid too many people traipsing around them but I figured that since this site is already up on the Internet, it was OK to identify it here.
BTW, I decided to join the sponsoring organization, a local conservation group that purchased the meadow to conserve the observation site. They sponsor many outings and own several properties that they maintain for conservation and enjoyment purposes. Might be fun to get involved with them.
Hi all! Last Thursday, I went to observe the Winter Solstice Sunrise at an ancient Native American viewing site. It was sponsored by a local conservation organization and sounded pretty interesting.
I got there just as it was lightening up (6:45 AM) and about 40 people eventually came. There is an Observing Stone at one end of the large meadow and a Sighting Notch at the opposite end. You can see these structures in the pictures below.
At sunrise, we all walked to the Observing Stone--the large, flat one--but unfortunately, it was too overcast and we couldn't see a thing. Sigh. But our guide gave a nice lecture on the sighting notch and how it was used, plus some of the research he had done on ancient sighting stones and other Native American complexes in the surrounding areas.
So even though we didn't see anything, it was still fun to see the site itself on the actual Winter Solstice and experience some connection to the early people who used it. They also claim to have a Summer Solstice viewing site from the same Observing Stone. It might be fun to check it out in June (if I can get up that early, hehe).
There is more about Half-Moon Meadow at this link, including how the sunrise is “supposed” to look, hehe. Oh, well, maybe next year.
http://www.neara.org/Boudillion/halfmoon01.htm
There are ancient Native American lithic sites all around us here in New England-that predate colonial stone building efforts by centuries. They are, however, lost in the huge number of stone walls that now permeate this area and are usually mistaken for colonial structures. Still, if you know where to look, such sites are commonplace enough, I guess, and still known and used by modern Native American people. Understandably, they try to keep these sites secret to avoid too many people traipsing around them but I figured that since this site is already up on the Internet, it was OK to identify it here.
BTW, I decided to join the sponsoring organization, a local conservation group that purchased the meadow to conserve the observation site. They sponsor many outings and own several properties that they maintain for conservation and enjoyment purposes. Might be fun to get involved with them.