Back near Bateman's Pond

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More History and archaeology

Back near Bateman's Pond on Middlesex land are two other archaeological sites that have been declared eligible to be included in the National Register of Historic Places:

The Paul Adams-Rebecca Estabrook Place

Below is the old Paul Adams-Rebecca Estabrook Place. The farmstead (not just the cellar site) is a National Register-eligible Historic Site, says the Massachusetts Historic Commission, which contains intact archaeological deposits relating to several sequential occupations. The old cellar (now but a dent in the earth, and somewhat disturbed from the investigation) is up the hill from the causeway, on the right just after the road bends (through the wall you see here) to the south to head past Bateman's Pond. There are some old, falling-down fruit trees on the right side of the road and the cellar dent is just behind them; the archaeologists from Public Archaeology Laboratory have dug around there and have written detailed reports on what they have found, which was a lot. The house was probably first mentioned in a 1740 deed to Robert Estabrook, Rebecca's father, but much of the material was from the late 1700s and early 1800s. There still is a fine old well (see below) in the puckerbrush in back. Can you find it?

In November 1997, the Massachusetts Historical Commission noted that the proposed project would impact parts of the archaeological site (perhaps the interesting, small clapboarded building, perhaps a widow's house or cordwainder's workshop). It is at the left in the colored drawing below. The MHC recommended that the project be revised to avoid harm, but it was not revised. The site of this small building, for example, was never studied and it was destroyed by road construction in 2005.

You can walk right by and not know the cellar site there, this "dent in the earth," ten feet off the cart road.

This well is near the cellar, hidden a few rods towards Bateman's Pond. (That's a Peterson's Field Guide in upper left for scale.) Here's a larger version.

Caption: This colored drawing of the Paul Adams place was made about 1860 by a neighbor, Joseph Melvin. It's in the Concord Museum (used with permission). Click on picture for a very large version. Note the birds flying, the fruit trees and the well. And note the small outbuilding on the left: it is be clapboarded with a brick chimney, which suggests it is more than a rough shed. Perhaps it is a small dwelling or important workshop. The road to the soccer fields has been built through its site, which has not been precisely located. And check out the fresh manure outside the stall windows!

The last person named Estabrook from Estabrook Woods lived (and probably died) here. Her name was Rebecca. I think her name should be remembered as part of the name of the site. Thus. it should be called the Rebecca Estabrook-Paul Adams Site. Her second husband, Paul Adams, was but a johnny-come-lately.
As a girl, she would only have taken a few minutes to hurry over the hill to the old Estabrook place (even then probably only a cellar hole) to see the minute men pass on their way to the fight at the North Bridge.

The Corn Hills, a National Register-eligible agricultural hilled field

Back near Bateman's Pond on Middlesex School land is another archaeological site that has been declared to be eligible for the National Historic Register, the 250-year-old corn hills.
One day in 1857, Emerson and Thoreau were walking between the site of Paul Adams' and Bateman's Pond, and Thoreau saw something that caught his eye--the corn hills. Corn hills were mounds that native people and colonial farmers put in their fields, on which they planted their corn and other vegetables. Native people had used them for centuries, probably putting a fish in for fertilizer (Bateman's Pond once had anadromous fish, according to one of Thoreau's informants.) Thoreau wrote, "These very regular round grassy hillocks, extending in straight rows over the swells and valleys, had a singular effect, like the burial ground of some creatures." (Journal, Nov. 13, 1857)

At the public hearing on the Middlesex School project, objecting citizens mentioned this 1857 quote of Thoreau's and asked that Middlesex's archaeologists search for them. They did--and to everyone's astonishment (including their own), they found them--hundreds of them.

The archaeologists concluded that the corn hills were made by Robert Estabrook, Rebecca's father, in the mid-1700's. So they were a hundred years old when Henry saw them, and two hundred and fifty years old when Middlesex's archaeologists rediscovered them. The Mass. Historical Commission declared them eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. (The Middlesex-funded study gratuitously went out of its way to debunk Thoreau's observation; see my critique of this attitude.)

You may not at first notice them. The mounds are just to the west of the Bateman's Pond cart road (now a cross-country trail). And the field of corn hills crosses the short trail (growing-over in 2005) that runs from the cart road to the promontory overlooking Bateman's Pond. Stop half way along that trail and look at your feet at the edge of the trail, then turn north and walk out into the woods, looking down. You'll see these small mounds, in rows, often covered with moss. Or your ankle will twist.
Most of the mounds are, under the school's settlement with the town, within conservation restriction CR-2, which the school would grant only if and when it received permission to build deeper in the Woods. (The mounds' protection is not complete, however. Their special inner protective zone was drawn, on the most recent CR map that I have seen, much too small and was probably misplaced. Furthermore, some mounds are within B-land, the school's archaeologists say, and are thus are subject to development.)

We later were surprised to notice that the mounds were visible on aerial photographs -- taken in probably perfect conditions, with snow perhaps part melted. See below. (I'm told it's unique to find them on aerials.) On the photo, one can get a better sense of the size of the field.

We were surprised to discover that the corn hill field can even be seen on an aerial photo and even on the web! Do you see the stippled dots? They are the corn hills, the small mounds Robert Estabrook made, 250 years ago, when he planted his corn or vegetables. (The sun is upper right, casting long diagonal shadows of trees. The mounds are not nearly as conspicuous at ground level.)

Except when a low winter sun helps show them:

And as a treat, I enclose a historic photo taken about 1892 from the northwest cove of Bateman's Pond, looking across to the wooded eastern shore. The rocks of the promontory can be seen; the corn hills are near the top . The picture was taken by the noted photographer Herbert W. Gleason, who photographed places Thoreau visited and wrote about. (Here is a document, "Thoreau at Middlesex School," listing the dates on which Thoreau wrote in his journal about the area now known as Middlesex School.)

Click here for a larger version (44K). These were reproduced from the 1892 edition of Thoreau writings.

For more terrific history, look at --

The original minuteman route down the old Estabrook road : click

The 1683 Estabrook cellar & stone circles: click

More "ancient yankee ruins": cellars, quarries & mills: click

To | Estabrook start page |

The Corn Hills, a National Register-eligible agricultural hilled field
Back near Bateman's Pond on Middlesex School land is another archaeological site that has been declared to be eligible for the National Historic Register, the 250-year-old corn hills. One day in 1857, Emerson and Thoreau were walking between the site of Paul Adams' and Bateman's Pond, and Thoreau saw something that caught his eye--the corn hills. Corn hills were mounds that native people and colonial farmers put in their fields, on which they planted their corn and other vegetables. Native people had used them for centuries, probably putting a fish in for fertilizer (Bateman's Pond once had anadromous fish, according to one of Thoreau's informants.) Thoreau wrote, "These very regular round grassy hillocks, extending in straight rows over the swells and valleys, had a singular effect, like the burial ground of some creatures." (Journal, Nov. 13, 1857) At the public hearing on the Middlesex School project, objecting citizens mentioned this 1857 quote of Thoreau's and asked that Middlesex's archaeologists search for them. They did--and to everyone's astonishment (including their own), they found them--hundreds of them.
	The archaeologists concluded that the corn hills were made by Robert Estabrook, Rebecca's father, in the mid-1700's. So they were a hundred years old when Henry saw them, and two hundred and fifty years old when Middlesex's archaeologists rediscovered them. The Mass. Historical Commission declared them eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. (The Middlesex-funded study gratuitously went out of its way to debunk Thoreau's observation; see my critique of this attitude.)
You may not at first notice them. The mounds are just to the west of the Bateman's Pond cart road (now a cross-country trail). And the field of corn hills crosses the short trail (growing-over in 2005) that runs from the cart road to the promontory overlooking Bateman's Pond. Stop half way along that trail and look at your feet at the edge of the trail, then turn north and walk out into the woods, looking down. You'll see these small mounds, in rows, often covered with moss. Or your ankle will twist. Most of the mounds are, under the school's settlement with the town, within conservation restriction CR-2, which the school would grant only if and when it received permission to build deeper in the Woods. (The mounds' protection is not complete, however. Their special inner protective zone was drawn, on the most recent CR map that I have seen, much too small and was probably misplaced. Furthermore, some mounds are within B-land, the school's archaeologists say, and are thus are subject to development.) We later were surprised to notice that the mounds were visible on aerial photographs -- taken in probably perfect conditions, with snow perhaps part melted. See below. (I'm told it's unique to find them on aerials.) On the photo, one can get a better sense of the size of the field.
	We were surprised to discover that the corn hill field can even be seen on an aerial photo and even on the web! Do you see the stippled dots? They are the corn hills, the small mounds Robert Estabrook made, 250 years ago, when he planted his corn or vegetables. (The sun is upper right, casting long diagonal shadows of trees. The mounds are not nearly as conspicuous at ground level.)
Except when a low winter sun helps show them:
And as a treat, I enclose a historic photo taken about 1892 from the northwest cove of Bateman's Pond, looking across to the wooded eastern shore. The rocks of the promontory can be seen; the corn hills are near the top . The picture was taken by the noted photographer Herbert W. Gleason, who photographed places Thoreau visited and wrote about. (Here is a document, "Thoreau at Middlesex School," listing the dates on which Thoreau wrote in his journal about the area now known as Middlesex School.) Click here for a larger version (44K). These were reproduced from the 1892 edition of Thoreau writings.