Caratunk is an Audubon refuge in Seekonk. Below is a 2-mile route in Caratunk. My route isn’t very useful because much of it wanders off-trail in search of NativeAmerican stone-structures, but at least it will get you started.
Caratunk has various NativeAmerican stone-structures: propped boulders, stone rows, manitou stones. Below is a propped boulder; it has been propped to create a “manitou shape,” i.e., an upward-pointing shape.
Below is another picture of the same “manitou boulder,” showing how it has been propped by a series of “propping stones.” One might call this a “propping chain.” (I included a picture of such a “propping chain” in my notes on Weetamoo Woods.) The propping chain is on the lower right; the boulder is also propped on other sides.
When there are multiple propping stones, it becomes harder for skeptics to say, “That boulder wasn’t intentionally propped, it just fell on the propping stone by chance.”
Students of geology will enjoy Caratunk’s erratic boulders, and its “boulder train” (I marked the Boulder Train with a blue pin). Bird-watchers will also enjoy Caratunk. Caratunk has streams and ponds, it’s one of the most scenic refuges in the area.
This route can be extended by walking west, under the power-lines, and taking the “Western Loop” known as Hemlock Loop. Click here for a trail map.
Below is a route at Pemmerl in Rehoboth; it’s 3-4 miles long.
Pemmerl has a scenic trail along the West Branch of the Palmer River. It also has NativeAmerican stone-work, and lots of erratic boulders. Many of the erratics and outcrops are Roxbury Puddingstone, a conglomerate, i.e., a rock made up of smaller rocks. The trails at Pemmerl are generally smooth, flat, and wide, without lots of grass where ticks can lurk. Some of the trails may have been cart roads in colonial times. You’ll be walking beneath tall white pine, Silver Birch, oak, etc.
The boulder below caught my eye because of the air underneath — the hollows, the openings. Native Americans liked to put boulders in the air, while nature settles them into the earth. I marked the location with a yellow pin.
When I walked to the back of the boulder to investigate further, I found an unmistakable sign of NativeAmerican craft: a small stone propping the boulder, creating hollows and openings under the boulder (see below).
There are stone walls at Pemmerl that show signs of NativeAmerican craftsmanship. My hunch is that some of the walls were built by NativeAmericans who had been hired by whites. Robert P. Emlen, an authority on EarlyAmerican life, says that if settlers wanted a wall built, Native Americans were the “go-to guys.”1 The term “stone row” is used to distinguish Native work, but if Natives were hired to make a wall, should we call it a “stone row”? At any rate, the picture below shows a stone row that terminates with two manitou stones (upward-pointing stones). I marked the location of this picture with a grey pin.
In case you don’t see the manitou stones, below is a part of the same picture, with the “upward points” marked in red.
The terminus of a stone row is significant, like the last page of a novel.
Note the surveyor stake on the left of the stone row. The contemporary boundary, marked by stakes, seems to match the old boundary, marked by the stone row.
Below is another manitou stone at Pemmerl (I marked its location with a blue hiker pin). Natives often lean manitou stones against a stone row, or stand them next to a stone row.
The signs at Pemmerl are charming, only Simmons Mill Pond has better signs. The sign below has a map of Pemmerl (I marked the location of this sign with an orange pin).
And while you’re here, check out the Perryville Dam, at the intersection of Danforth Street and Perryville Road. It seems to have mill-races (small channels of water, for powering mills) on both sides of the main stream (below the dam). One mill-race continues on the other side of the street, in someone’s front yard.
For info on Perryville Dam, and other historic sites in Rehoboth, click here.
Below is another 2.5-mile walk in Seekonk. It starts near Seekonk Library, goes along Gammino Pond, then along Central Pond. If you look across Central Pond, you can see the TenMileRiver BikePath, which follows the other side of Central Pond. You can shorten the walk by following the shore of Gammino Pond. The map is in Satellite View (otherwise Gammino Pond isn’t visible). I put a blue pin on an area where you can see ducks, especially in winter (the ducks are in Central Pond, north of the trail).
Below is a route in the Rehoboth Town Forest, it’s 2.2 miles. There’s another “trail branch” toward the southeast; see AllTrails for info, or see my map below. The land is flat. Much of the trail is an old cart road, so it’s relatively wide. There’s little grass, hence little tick danger. The trails can be muddy after a rain. There’s some NativeAmerican stone-work (stone piles, stone rows, and manitou stones).
Below is a stone pile near the parking lot of the Rehoboth Town Forest, I marked its location with a blue pin. I marked another stone pile with a green pin.
Below is another route in the Rehoboth Town Forest; this route goes toward the southeast, it’s 1.5 miles.
Below is a possible manitou stone. Note the upward-pointing shape. I marked the location with a black pin.
Below is a short walk in Rehoboth; it circles Anawan Rock, where King Philip’s War ended in 1676.
Anawan Rock rises gradually on the north side (the side that faces the road), and falls off abruptly on the south side, because the glacier came from the north, smoothing and flattening the north side, then plucking off boulders from the south side. (I discussed this process here and here.) If Anawan Rock was shaped by the glacier, then it wasn’t carried by the glacier, i.e., it’s not an erratic, it’s an outcrop. Anawan Rock is conglomerate, i.e., a big rock made up of small rocks.
The picture below shows the back of Anawan Rock, the south side. Note the steep cliff, and the “conglomerate texture” of the rock. Note also the odd hole in the center of the rock (the center of the picture). This hole reminds me of the “Indian Oven” on Homestead Avenue in Rehoboth; the Indian Oven is in a south-facing rock similar to the rock in this picture. Could the hole in this picture be another oven? Why would Native Americans use the sun for cooking when they were adept at using fire?
Below is a route in the Rehoboth State Forest; the route is 1.25 miles. It’s flat, and it can be muddy after a rain. There are some NativeAmerican stone structures, especially stone rows.
Click here for the “official map” of the Rehoboth State Forest.
Just west of Seekonk is East Providence, Rhode Island, which has a small refuge called Hunt’s Mills. Below is a short walk (3/4 mile) in Hunt’s Mills.
Hunt’s Mills has a river (the Ten Mile River), a dam/waterfall, a fish-ladder, and an historic house built in 1751 (it’s sometimes open for tours, it’s the headquarters of the East Providence Historical Society). The trail is well-maintained, flat, and scenic (it goes along the river).