How come when i go into the woods around my house there are random little stone walls?

Question

i mean my woods are pretty deep from any house and the walls aren't very high at all, and are poorly put together, but you can tell they're man made (by the way i live in Massachusettes if that helps)

Answer 1

Dr. Jello's got it. Pretty wild, isn't it? There are more trees and forests in New England than there were 200 years ago.

in fact, at the present rate of Re-forestation, if this trend continues, you'll have no place to park your car in 200 years!

This is why statistics are misleading.

Answer 2

These walls were built by farmers who moved the stones from their rocky fields in order to plant crops.

The walls typically marked property boundaries.

In colonial times, most of the trees were cleared for farms.  The farms were abandoned around the turn of the century as farming moved to the heartland of the country.  Since then the trees have taken over the farms.  Most forests in New England are only about 80 years old.

You will see these walls all around New England.

Answer 3

they could be walls from the American Revolution; there was many  skirmishes around the east coast, and in your case, Massachusetts.  the only other thing i can think of is the Civil

War, but i have never heard of any fighting going on in Mass. at that time. google it and see what comes up, if you're really curious.

Answer 4

You might have some history in your area...  Massachusetts being one of the earlier colonies.  You should consider searching around with a metal detector or something.  You could find some historical objects, coins, or tools... etc

Answer 5

I love little random stone walls or steps.  I found a lot of these in Baltimore, MD.  There'd be stone steps leading into nothing but forest.  It was pretty neat and also haunting.