You are here
Site 18: Benson House Boulder Quarry
Site 18: Benson House Boulder Quarry, HF, N 42º 31.815' W072º 11.508'
Glacial erratics lodged in the New England landscape turned plowing into a nightmare but provided plenty of building material for early settlers. An elephant-sized boulder could be sliced into slabs, loaded onto stone boats and dragged to the nearest home site by a team of oxen. When I was first drawing the Benson House boulder, I thought it was a frost-split formation; the slabs' skewed shapes made a great subject. But as I drew, I saw drilled grooves spaced at perfect intervals along its edges. The human part of the story became the boulder's most appealing feature.
Click on an image for a larger view.
