America's Stonehenge
An Enduring Mystery of New England
History
No one is sure who built America's Stonehenge. The site is at least 4,000 years old and is one of the oldest man-made structures in the United States. America's Stonehenge is also one of the largest megalithic sites that have been found in North America. Like Stonehenge in England, America's Stonehenge was built by a group of people who had detailed knowledge of astronomy and stone construction. Through study at the site, it's been determined that America's Stonehenge is an accurate, astronomically aligned calendar - even today it can be used to determine specific solar and lunar events of the year.
Visiting
America's Stonehenge is a several acre site that you can explore. The structures themselves are a maze of chambers, tunnels, walls and meetings places centered mostly in the middle of the site. Surrounding the center of the site are outlying walls and stones that make up the remainder of the site. Anyone planning on visiting America's Stonehenge should be prepared to walk. A basic tour of the area probably consists of a little under a mile of walking all told, though there are plenty of stops and chances to relax and explore chambers, wells, pits and more. For the more adventuresome there are additional trails beyond the main structure site that take in the smaller structures, rings and stone pillars further out in the woods. The more you walk around, the more the mileage adds up.
In the visitor center itself are your typical tourist facilities, including a gift shop, ticket sales, some food and beverage services and bathrooms. In addition they have a fairly small, but very interesting museum that showcases some of the archeological work and the theories that exist for America's Stonehenge.
How long do I need?
If you pushed it, the entire site could be looked at in about an hour or so. However, America's Stonehenge makes a great half-day or day long destination. Pack a picnic lunch and spend your time going through the main site and exploring further off into the woods - you never know what you're going to find.
My Take
I've always thought that America's Stonehenge was an interesting place to visit, even more than once. We've always spent at least a half a day and I'd suggest the same for others, especially if you are intrigued by ancient and unsolved mysteries because you can spend hours wandering through stone chambers, feeling stone walls, trying to follow miniature tunnels and just staring and wondering what it was all for.
Published by jps246
I like to write about what interests me. I also write on other online review sites under the same name. I maintain a blog of my reviews - ReviewThis and being a big fan of the outdoors, I also have the A... View profile
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4 Comments
Post a CommentMaybe it's like the Kensington Runestone from ALexandria, Minnesota. If I'm ever in NH, I'll check it out.
Not being an archeologist I have rely on what I've read and seen there. From the best of my knowledge in the 18th century there was as homestead on the site that was built over some of the stone structures. There has been some dating of original charcoal layers and such and those are older than the 18th century so something was there before the farmers. Do I know if it was the whole thing? No. It's surely not as magnificent as Stonehenge in England, but it's an interesting place and for a few bucks you can wander around and wonder about it.
Oh and archaeologists believe it was built by farmers in the 18th century, so it's not old at all.
It's hardly Stonehenge though :-) It's just a bunch of short wall-style structures, not the magnificence that the British site has. That's why no one has ever heard of it, regardless that the name was recently changed to 'America's Stonehenge', it's just not in the same realm as the real thing. America doesn't have the old structures that most of Europe and the rest of the world has.