America’s Stonehenge: A Classic Whodunit and Whydunit

The New York Times ^ | 11 Dec 2009 | JAY ATKINSON

[BGHater]

Salem, N.H. — At this leafless and gloomy time of year I traveled, in the spirit of the symbologist Robert Langdon of “The Da Vinci Code,” to America’s Stonehenge, in this town five miles from the Massachusetts border. Scholars have debated whether the stone cairns and chambers here were built by early American Indians, enterprising colonial settlers or, more controversially, a migrant European culture that visited these woods nearly 4,000 years ago.

Determined to plumb these mysteries, I arrived at a rustic information center and gift shop on a cold and gray Sunday morning. Inside I was greeted by the aptly named Dennis Stone, 55, a commercial airline pilot who along with his wife, Pat, 59, owns this unusual roadside attraction. (Dennis’s father, Robert E. Stone, 80, began leasing the site in 1958 and bought all 105 acres in 1965, saving it from possible development.)

A charming mix of prehistoric wonders, alpaca farming and kitsch, America’s Stonehenge is an oasis of eccentricity in an ever-growing world of carefully managed and manicured tourist spots.

“We don’t think it was a ‘habitat’ site,” said the stocky, bespectacled Mr. Stone. “Perhaps a shaman once stayed here, but primarily it’s a religious and astronomical site, a gathering place, like Stonehenge in England.”

The main site is a half-mile past the gift shop at the top of a small round hill. On the path leading up through a stand of ragged oak trees I’d arranged to meet Alan Hill, 68, a professor of astronomy at New Hampshire Technical Institute.

America's Stonehenge is in Salem, N.H. Scholars have debated whether the stone cairns and chambers here were built by early American Indians, enterprising colonial settlers or, more controversially, a migrant European culture that visited these woods nearly 4,000 years ago.

[BGHater]

America's Stonehenge-Wiki

[BGHater]

In travel section, beggars can’t be choosers.

[WayneS]

Scholars have debated whether the stone cairns and chambers here were built by early American Indians, enterprising colonial settlers or, more controversially, a migrant European culture that visited these woods nearly 4,000 years ago.

What about the FAR more obvious and likely possiblity that these the stones were placed there by aliens as an intergalactic map marker?

;-)

[a fool in paradise]

Scholars have debated whether the stone cairns and chambers here were built by early American Indians, enterprising colonial settlers or, more controversially, a migrant European culture that visited these woods nearly 4,000 years ago.

It's "controversial" only to those who forever see Europeans an "invaders" and "imperialist".

[andy58-in-nh]

The site is about a 20 minute drive from my house - a nice little regional oddity that no one has yet explained.

[sticker]

Don't be silly it was the Knights Templar when they hide the Holy Grail.

[WayneS]

You make a good case, but I rode my “alien” horse into this thread and I just can’t justify changing mid-stream.

[Bernard Marx]

What about the FAR more obvious and likely possiblity that these the stones were placed there by aliens as an intergalactic map marker?

Seems very logical to me. The area probably had lots of moose to mutilate and Indians ready for abduction and anal-probing.

[T Minus Four]

[ml/nj]

America B. C. by Barry Fell is an interesting book that talks about this and other evidence of European visitors to the American continents long before Columbus.

ML/NJ

[WayneS]

20 minutes away, eh?

I’ll bet there’s a lot of UFO activity in your area, isn’t there?

(Pssst. Help me out here, okay? You see, I’m having this argument with some guy who thinks a bunch of gallant “heros” in shining armor put those stones there -—but we RATIONAL people know it was the aliens, right?)

[sticker]

I think if the aliens had done it they would have built others that by using a special triangulation method the layout would produce the Maltese cross, not falcon but cross

[Grut]

Hmm... he should point out the site's five miles from, er, North Massachusetts.

[outpostinmass2]

http://fusionanomaly.net/spinaltapstonehenge.jpg

[andy58-in-nh]

[outpostinmass2]

[Nepeta]

I saw this place in 1973. I thought it was a hoax going in, but after seeing it, I’m convinced it’s old and most likely European.

[hennie pennie]

*ping*

[Quix]

thanks.

[Oatka]

It's all a hoax, according to those "scientists" who believe NOBODY was here before 700 AD. Check out

The Kensington Runestone - another "hoax". (cough) When your life's work is proved wrong, Deny, Deny, Deny.