Are stone walls protected in Massachusetts?
All stone walls shall be maintained in their present condition (Standard Conditions 8(g)). At least three other New England states specifically protect stone walls. In Massachusetts, the removal or destruction of portions of a stone wall is a property crime punishable by a $10 fine or arrest without a warrant (Mass.
Why are there so many stone walls in Massachusetts?
BASCOMB: The colonists in New England faced an uphill battle in turning the region’s vast forests into farmland. They had to fell massive trees and contend with rocks strewn throughout the soil they aimed to plow. So, stone by stone, they stacked the rocks left over from glaciers into waist-high walls.
How old are stone walls in Massachusetts?
Glacial Origins The stones in New England’s stone walls were plucked from bedrock by the Laurentide ice sheet between about 30,000 and 15,000 years ago.
Why are there random stone walls in the woods?
Some of these old mortarless stone walls were built as long ago as the early 1800s. They served as boundary markers along property lines, as fences to keep animals in (or sometimes out), and to protect cemeteries. Farmers needed to clear rocks from their fields for plowing, so the walls served a dual purpose.
Are old stone walls protected?
ARE STONE WALLS PROTECTED? Most have no legal protection at all because they are interior to property boundaries. A small percentage are protected in designated historic districts, in public parks, and private land trusts.
Are stone walls protected in New Hampshire?
New Hampshire state law affords limited protection to stone walls, but the provisions are weak and enforcement is difficult. Insensitive repairs, removal or theft for resale elsewhere, road widening and new construction all take their toll on the state’s stone walls.
Did slaves build new England stone walls?
In the materials, Allport discovered that Native Americans, enslaved people, and indentured servants built stone walls in addition to the widely-recognized Yankee farmers.
Which state has the most stone walls?
In studying stone walls, Thorson found that the thickest concentration of them was along the Connecticut coast to about Portland, Maine, and inland about 100 miles. “Vermont is not the epicenter,” he says, “but it is the epicenter of the image of stone walls.”
Why are there so many stone walls in England?
Throughout the nation, from Yorkshire to Orkney, miles of moss-covered dry stone walls snake their way through the open land. Many of these walls were built during the Bronze Age more than 3,500 years ago. They survive as the last evidence of our forefathers’ gradual transition from hunter gatherers to settled farmers.
Did slaves build New England stone walls?
Did slaves build stone walls in New England?