Station 2: Jonathan Sanderson's Barnyard
Jonathan probably cleared the land for his home and garden first. The other crop and pasture land was cleared later. In addition to cutting the trees and removing the stumps, Jonathan built two and a half miles of stone walls before the 75 acres of original farm were finished, which entailed moving about 10,000,000 pounds of rock.
Stonewalls: Walls one stone thick were built to keep cattle in the pasture, and double walls were built around plowed fields because the space between the large stone gave him a place to dump the small stones worked up each year by the freezing and thawing of the soil. See Station 23 for a more indepth description
From our knowledge of Colonial agriculture it seems likely that a fully developed farm of this size might support
- a pair of oxen
- a dozen sheep
- half a dozen cows
- plus young stock
- a few pigs
- and some chickens.
The manure from these animals was the only fertilizer available for the plowed land. Common Cultivated crops included:
- corn
- wheat
- barley
- rye
- oats
- buckwheat
- and all our common garden vegetables.
You can see evidence of all these past events that have shaped the forest as you walk the trail.
What are some things that you see in the New England landscape that indicate past agricultural use?
What is some evidence of logging?
If you see dead and damaged trees what might this tell you?
