Ancient Stone Sites of New England

Ancient Stone Sites of New England
The website of author David Goudsward

Bob Stone, the owner of America's Stonehenge, passed away December 15th.

I am grateful to have called him my friend.

THE MAN OF MYSTERY HILL: AN ABBY MCNABB MYSTERY has been released in e-book format. Quake Publishing, an imprint of Echelon Press, will release a print version in May 2010. Read more here.

“Abby McNabb is the nine-year-old heir apparent to both Fox Mulder and Nancy Drew. The Man of Mystery Hill By Tracy L. Carbone adds magic and the paranormal to the archaeology and the result is an enchanting romp through southern New Hampshire megaliths that will delight readers of all ages.” -- David Goudsward

Knight Errant
The Westford Knight and
the Sinclair Expedition to America

Publisher: McFarland & Company
Coming 2010

Ancient Stone Sites of New England
and the Debate Over Early European Exploration
Publisher: McFarland & Company (June 2006)
ISBN-13: 9780786424627

America's Stonehenge
The Mystery Hill Story
Publisher: Branden Books (January 2003)
ISBN-13: 978-0828320740

In the 14th century, Henry Sinclair, the Earl of Orkney and Lord of Roslin, set forth to the west on a voyage of discovery. Earl Henry's goal was to track down a rumored rich fishing area that we now know as Newfoundland's Grand Banks. What Sinclair would find was land beyond his expectations. He continued exploring the coast and rivers of the vast new land.

On a windswept hill in Westford, Massachusetts, one of Earl Henry's companions died. In lieu of the appropriate funerary art befitting this Chief of the Clan Gunn and Crowner of Caithness, the best the explorers could do was to peck a rough effigy of the the fallen knight, a crude equivalent of the style of the day.

And there it remained, misidentified as a petroglyph left by Indians, Colonials, Irish or Norse until 1954 when an archaeologist yielded to the wishes of his daughter and rediscovered evidence of Scottish explorations a century before Columbus.

The journey that the Westford Knight carving has embarked on is far greater than that of the fallen soldier it represents.

In New England today, there are megalithic stones, stone chambers and structures, carvings and petroglyphs, even an unidentified skeleton in armor that defy easy explanation. From Maine to Massachusetts, this work presents an examination of various unexplained historical remains in New England. From the most notorious to the lesser known, it explores not only the layout and dimensions of such sites—some reminiscent of Stonehenge with their huge stones, astronomical alignments and undiscovered purposes—but also the history and possible explanations for their existence.

Theories regarding Norse, Phoenician, Irish, Celtic and Native American origins are presented here in an impartial and logical manner. Sites discussed include Mystery Hill in North Salem, New Hampshire (also known as America's Stonehenge); Dighton Rock in Berkley, Massachusetts; Newport Tower in Newport, Rhode Island; and the Bellows Falls Petroglyphs in Bellows Falls, Vermont.

America's Stonehenge sits atop Mystery Hill in North Salem, New Hampshire. It is an acre of stone structures surrounded by a 12-acre calendar. Alignments and carbon dating indicate the site was built 4000 years ago. In this book the authors explore the historical and prehistoric clues left behind at the archaeology site once described as a 'mystery wrapped in an enigma'.

The history of the site is examined and traced from the clues left behind from visitors, residents and researchers, and how that has led to today's research and the current interpretation of the evidence.

Table of Contents
Foreword by Robert Stone
Chapter One - The Indian on the Ledge
Chapter Two - The Cross and the Sword
Chapter Three - A Knight is Found
Chapter Four - A Knight in Armor
Chapter Five - Jarl Henry and the Sinclairs
Chapter Six - A Knight Gunn
Chapter Seven - The Zeno Narrative
Chapter Eight - A Knight Under Siege
Chapter Nine - The Sinclair Expedition
Chapter Ten - Glooscap
Chapter Eleven -The Knight Tower
Chapter Twelve -The Ship Stone
Chapter Thirteen - The Knights Templar
Chapter Fourteen - The Rosslyn Chapel
Chapter Fifteen - A Knight Mythologized
Chapter Sixteen - A Knightly Epilogue
Appendix 1 - Pohl's Parallels Between Glooscap and Sinclair
Appendix 3 - The Zeno Narrative (Major Translation)
Appendix 3 - The Zeno Narrative (Lucas Translation)
Appendix 4 - Whittall's Twenty Tenets on the Newport Tower

Table of Contents
Foreword by Niven Sinclair
Chapter One - Sacrificial Tables
Chapter Two - Vineland on the Charles
Chapter Three - Dighton Rock
Chapter Four - The Newport Tower
Chapter Five - America's Stonehenge on Mystery Hill
Chapter Six - Celtic New England
Chapter Seven - The Westford Knight
Chapter Eight - Runic Relicts
Chapter Nine - The Gungywamp Complex
Chapter Ten - Norse Cape Cod
Appendix - Sites Available to Public

Table of Contents
Introduction – Malcolm D. Pearson
Preface – Linwood M. Pattee
Chapter One – Beginnings
Chapter Two – The Ice Age
Chapter Three – The Megalithic Age
Chapter Four – The Woodland Age
Chapter Five – The Pattee Age
Chapter Six – The Antiquarian Age
Chapter Seven – The Stone Age

"Goudsward remains admirably (almost frustratingly) objective..."
ALA College & Research Library News

"Highly Recommended"
New England Antiquities Research Association

"The contents are invaluable to an anomalist."
Journal of Scientific Exploration

For further reading:

Meeting of the Minds (2004)
Author and Dighton Rock's most ardent supporter Dr. da Silva introduces Dave, Elizabeth "Keeper of the Westford Knight" Lane and author Scott Goudsward to the Dighton Rock.

First Book Signing (2004)
Mystery Hill's Bob Stone and Dave in a Salem, NH bookstore atr the first book signing of America's Stonehenge - The Mystery Hill Story.

Mystery Hill (2006)
Dave examines the Sacrificial Table at Mystery Hill in preparation of the first chapter of Ancient Stones Sites, dealing with Lye Stones, Cider Presses and why this is neither.


July 26 2006

Postcard: The Sacrificial Table at Mystery Hill

Back reads:
Mystery Hill - America's Stonehenge
2000 BC
North Salem, New Hampshire
"The Sacrificial Table"
This 4 1/2 ton grooved slab is located at the exact center
of the site. It is believed to be an ancient pagan alter
of sacrifice. A speaking tube, directly under this slab,
was used for the oracle during the pagan ceremony.

Original release would have been late 1960s. Based on the color degrade and caption, this is a mid-80s reprints.

It was replaced in the late 80s by a new version - different shot, different angle, better color. The text was modified to reflect the elimination of the Mystery Hill name and the fact that discovery of an astronomical calendar ringing the site meant that the stone was not in the dead center of the site.

Karl Edward Wagner makes notes of this postcard in his Lovecraftian short story "Sticks," first published in Whispers, March 1974. The story references this postcard for comparison to discoveries found in upstate New York.

H. Warner Munn's "HPL: A Reminiscence" first appearing in Whispers., V4, N1-2 (1979) mentions Munn's visit to Mystery Hill with Lovecraft, specifically recalling sitting on the edge of the sacrificial table.