VERY interesting woods walk today.

[ebinmaine 74,391]

I've lived here in this same house for over 20 years. The Trina person has been here 10+...

We've been out exploring the mountains across the street more times than I can begin to count. 

 

Most often,  we walk uphill about a mile and turn right, into the forest. There are several old pathways of various sorts n sizes. Some are narrow game trails. Some are snowmobile trails. Some hiking only trails. A LOT of long unused twitch trails from logging. And a few actual Colonial Period cart roads that have been setting unused by most for over a century. 

Here's an example of that. 

 

 

This morning... all we did was go a few dozen extra yards up the road before the standard issue right turn. 

There's a break in the old stone wall there. Both of us have looked at it driving by many times. Both of us have been wanting to poke around there. That was this morning.  

 

Here's what it looks like from across the street. 

 

A few feet in. 

 

And here's what I figure for a 200 ish year old drover's pathway like we found up over the other side of the mountains years ago. 

 

Remember many thousands of square miles of New England was dedicated to raising merino sheep 🐑 

 

 

 

Far more interesting...

We accidentally found the graveyard of the original European family to the area. The family for which the area was once named. 

Tripp. 

We live in "Tripptown".

This graveyard is nearly a quarter mile into the forest!!!

 

This is the headstone 🪦 for Richard Tripp and his wife. 

 

Here's what we assume is a non identified  grave, likely of a relative. 

 

Couple other views of the graveyard. There are several other odd set stones in spacing that would indicate graves. 

 

 

 

 

These last few pics show two very unique "stone dumps".

The first is unusual because of the massive size of the rocks. These are WAY beyond capabilities of normal humans to move. Each one weighs several hundred pounds minimum. 

 

This other one is abnormally large in area. This would usually indicate a long term living and farming situation. 

Most folks up here would have just added to the corner (or whole side) of an existing wall. 

We've seen these excess dump piles a few times. Always in hill country. 

Likely that's because the hills and mountains have incredibly massive amounts of glacial emptying as the ice sheets retreated.  

 

 

Here's the track we took.  The graveyard is just past the top corner turn around spot.  

 

 

[Handy Don 14,572]

It appears the graveyard hasn’t been maintained in five or six years (saplings all over). I know Maine’s laws permit walking/visiting unposted land but perhaps you can contact an owner to see if it'd be appropriate to bring your loppers on the next visit?

[ebinmaine 74,391]

12 minutes ago, Handy Don said:

It appears the graveyard hasn’t been maintained in five or six years (saplings all over).

 

It more likely to be 5 or 6 decades...

 

 

12 minutes ago, Handy Don said:

I know Maine’s laws permit walking/visiting unposted land but perhaps you can contact an owner to see if it'd be appropriate to bring your loppers on the next visit?

 

 

Trina had exactly the same thought. The space is part of a recently purchased conservation area. 

We'd like to go clean it up some. 

 

 

 

[JoeM 8,790]

Pretty cool find, and so close. 

 

We have a lot of those little grave yards here.

Some have from vivid history for the Indian days. The warrior trail is a nice one to walk and full of history including some massacres. I only walked a few miles of it when I hunted. 

 

This one is about a mile toward the river. Might make a good project for a scout like the one close by here?

 

 

I don't know who takes care of it now but they do a fine job!

[lynnmor 8,059]

Reasonable access must be allowed for any cemetery in PA.  What bothers me is landowners that simply destroy the grave markers and level the land for farming.

[ebinmaine 74,391]

33 minutes ago, JoeM said:

a lot of those little grave yards here

 

 

Here too. 

 

Two towns away. Limerick Maine. 

One of the town elders told me years ago there were over 200 cemetery/ graveyards in that town alone. 

 

Every other locale around is similar. 

 

Fascinating to me because in Massachusetts that was NOT common. 

 

 

[MainelyWheelhorse 2,056]

3 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

 

It more likely to be 5 or 6 decades...

 

 

 

 

Trina had exactly the same thought. The space is part of a recently purchased conservation area. 

We'd like to go clean it up some. 

 

 

 

(cough) Mackissick chipper (cough)😁

[Handy Don 14,572]

6 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

It more likely to be 5 or 6 decades...

Saplings among the graves are no more than 10 years old. 

 

2 hours ago, MainelyWheelhorse said:

(cough) Mackissick chipper (cough)😁

 😷 😁

[Blue Chips 170]

7 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

These last few pics show two very unique "stone dumps".

The first is unusual because of the massive size of the rocks.

 

There were some huge stones in the basement walls of the house that we were restoring and sold a couple of years ago in Alna, ME. The house is approximately 220 years old. I figure that oxen, heavy wagons, pulleys, and levers were the prime movers. Here's an example of a couple of the larger stones (there was an even larger one, but I can't find the photo):

 

 

7 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

We accidentally found the graveyard of the original European family to the area.

 

Interesting. You could check with the Maine Old Cemetery Association to find out what they know about the site. Also, check with the Hiram Historical Society

 

 

[Maz91 286]

That’s pretty stinkin cool!! There’s an old cemetery about 2 doors down from me. Two generations of the family that owned my property from 1790-1852 are buried there and there are several revolutionary war veterans buried there. I don’t think anyone has been buried there since the mid 1800’s. Interesting you guys happened to just stumble upon it in the woods like that! 

[ebinmaine 74,391]

7 hours ago, Handy Don said:

Saplings among the graves are no more than 10 years old.

 

Inside of the iron bars that's true. Those pines are very young. 

This makes me very curious to know if someone's been maintaining the site....

 

The rest of the yard the trees are much older. It's a little misleading to the eye. This hill has aggressive weather and stunts growth. 

[ebinmaine 74,391]

6 hours ago, Maz91 said:

That’s pretty stinkin cool!! There’s an old cemetery about 2 doors down from me. Two generations of the family that owned my property from 1790-1852 are buried there and there are several revolutionary war veterans buried there. I don’t think anyone has been buried there since the mid 1800’s. Interesting you guys happened to just stumble upon it in the woods like that! 

 

 

There's an abandoned village up over the mountain ridge we've seen quite a few times.  Many old cellar holes around both sides.  

[ebinmaine 74,391]

6 hours ago, Blue Chips said:

 

There were some huge stones in the basement walls of the house that we were restoring and sold a couple of years ago in Alna, ME. The house is approximately 220 years old. I figure that oxen, heavy wagons, pulleys, and levers were the prime movers. Here's an example of a couple of the larger stones (there was an even larger one, but I can't find the photo):

 

 

 

Interesting. You could check with the Maine Old Cemetery Association to find out what they know about the site. Also, check with the Hiram Historical Society

 

 

 

HSS we'd figured on. Cemetery Association I was unaware of. 

Thanks for that!

[JoeM 8,790]

15 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

200 cemetery/ graveyards in that town alone

One common thread here are the farms. The older large farms all had their own grave yards. 

A few years back a close coworker lost his father. They used a local funeral home for the lay out and interment was at the farm. The coworker and brothers got ownership of the family farm prior to.

The brothers used the farms backhoe for the hole. The seen was like something you see in an old western movie with the big oak tree and old grave markers. 

The whole thing was under the supervision of the director tho. 

[ebinmaine 74,391]

9 minutes ago, JoeM said:

One common thread here are the farms. The older large farms all had their own grave yards. 

A few years back a close coworker lost his father. They used a local funeral home for the lay out and interment was at the farm. The coworker and brothers got ownership of the family farm prior to.

The brothers used the farms backhoe for the hole. The seen was like something you see in an old western movie with the big oak tree and old grave markers. 

The whole thing was under the supervision of the director tho. 

 

 

It's really cool that a private property burial could happen  there. 

 

Before moving up here to Maine 25 years ago, my understanding (from Massachusetts)  is that it had not been lawful for many decades.

Turns out it can be done in either state... if you don't mind jumping through 483,000 hoops of red tape.

 

 

[Blue Chips 170]

1 minute ago, ebinmaine said:

Before moving up here to Maine 25 years ago, my understanding (from Massachusetts)  is that it had not been lawful for many decades.

Turns out it can be done in either state... if you don't mind jumping through 483,000 hoops of red tape.

 

I've been involved with a local archaeology group for some time, and we've run across a number of small family cemeteries, some of which were being maintained and others not. Most of the small cemeteries that we've seen are on land no longer owned by the descendants of those buried there. It's fairly common for a small family cemetery to be known but not maintained, due to a property owner's lack of interest, or a lack of enough volunteers in a local cemetery association.

 

Back in the day, it was common for people to have a family burial plot on their own property, perhaps wanting to keep their loved ones close by or adhering to someone's wishes to be buried on their own land...and figuring that the property would remain in the family. Of course, others were not so optimistic about their property staying in the family forever, so opted for a community cemetery instead, as it would have continual maintenance, and their future descendants could visit the grave sites anytime, or perhaps they might have wanted a more formal interment ceremony or desired the burials to be in hallowed ground. 

 

We were told by some neighbors whose family had lived in the area for generations that there was a burial site on the property that we sold a couple of years ago, but we were never able to find it, so we were unable to substantiate its existence. Small sites are quickly overgrown with trees and shrubs, and when stones fall over, it's not long before they get covered with all kinds of detritus. A neighbor a few doors down from our current home supposedly has a burial site in his back yard, but I haven't looked at it.

 

[Wayne0 1,336]

18 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

 

 

Here too. 

 

Two towns away. Limerick Maine. 

One of the town elders told me years ago there were over 200 cemetery/ graveyards in that town alone. 

 

Every other locale around is similar. 

 

Fascinating to me because in Massachusetts that was NOT common. 

 

 

When I was a kid we had a family camp in Limerick. Us kids would explore the land across the street and all the old logging roads.

One day about a mile in, under the duff, we found 2 large Marble slabs in the ground near an old cellar hole inscribed with the names of the deceased.

Can't remember the names. Pretty interesting to a couple 10 year olds!

 

[ebinmaine 74,391]

1 minute ago, Wayne0 said:

. Pretty interesting to a couple 10 year olds!

 

 

Given the fact that Trina and I are basically 10-year-olds, you can see why WE found it so interesting.

 

[MainelyWheelhorse 2,056]

On 10/26/2025 at 10:00 PM, Blue Chips said:

 

There were some huge stones in the basement walls of the house that we were restoring and sold a couple of years ago in Alna, ME. The house is approximately 220 years old. I figure that oxen, heavy wagons, pulleys, and levers were the prime movers. Here's an example of a couple of the larger stones (there was an even larger one, but I can't find the photo):

 

 

 

Interesting. You could check with the Maine Old Cemetery Association to find out what they know about the site. Also, check with the Hiram Historical Society

 

 

My Aunt lives in a house in western Maine built entirely of stone. It was built sometime in the late 17 or early 1800’s out of stone from the property after the first house burned. Her and her son, my cousin think it was built similar to how the house @Blue Chips is talking about was built.

Edited yesterday at 04:28 AM by MainelyWheelhorse

[ebinmaine 74,391]

16 hours ago, Maz91 said:

That’s pretty stinkin cool!! There’s an old cemetery about 2 doors down from me. Two generations of the family that owned my property from 1790-1852 are buried there and there are several revolutionary war veterans buried there. I don’t think anyone has been buried there since the mid 1800’s. Interesting you guys happened to just stumble upon it in the woods like that! 

 

 

You ever check it for Goodell or Whitney?