I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve driven past a bona-fide tourist site for the last six years, and never stopped to see it. Now that I live in the same town, I find it impossible to write a blog such as this, and to not visit this local wonder. This amazing place of wonder is none other than America’s Stonehenge, located in Salem, New Hampshire.

With a name like Stonehenge one may imagine large slabs of stone arranged in a circle to create an astronomical observatory. Well, in fact that is exactly what America’s Stonehenge is. Though not as impressive to view, it is nonetheless quite a work, and equal in mystery.  Archaeologists estimate the site was built around 4,000 years ago, and believe it may have been a temple or ceremonial grounds. Native American people’s used the area prior to European arrival. During colonial times the land was purchased and a farm house built on the ruins. With it’s many secret chambers and tunnels, the farm was an integral part of the underground railroad, secreting former slaves to freedom in Canada. Later, the land was quarried for stones to use in the Lawrence dam and other structures. The land was purchased in the 20th Century by a man that spearheaded the archaeological study of the site. His theory was that the structure was developed by Irish monks that came to American around 1000 A.D. Since then, more study has been done, and the ruins remain an active archaeological site.

I paid my admission and downloaded the free self-guided tour app. The wooded paths led me on a maze through thousands of years of history. At the peak of the hill was the site, filled with intricately laid rock walls and heavy slabbed roofs. The builders even carved an amazing drainage system that channels the water away from the area and into local streams.

The focal point of everything was the observation deck. This modern structure sits atop the original stone slab that was the center piece of the observatory. Large slabs ringed the site marking where the sun would rise and set on solstice and equinox days. One of the scholars has mapped a line from the spring equinox boulder, shown here, all the way through one of the gate structures at Stonehenge in Liverpool, England.

I followed some of the trails out to the solar markers before heading back. Before reaching the gift shop, I stopped to see the alpaca farm housed on the grounds. The grounds also include a replica of an ancient sundial and a mini covered bridge.

The purpose of this blog is to chronicle my adventures of sight seeing places right in my own backyard. Of any, this place met all the criteria. One more adventure living here in New England.

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” – Helen Keller