Nashoba Brook Stone Chamber
Encyclopedia
The Nashoba Brook Stone Chamber is an underground stone structure in the woods of the Nashoba Brook Conservation Area of Acton
, Massachusetts
. Its more common name is the "potato cave", which comes from the traditional assumption that it was once used as a root cellar. Research and excavation from 2006 supports this assertion, finding evidence of construction from the 18th or 19th century for the purpose of storing food. Some argue that it may originally have been a pre-colonial native American ceremonial stone landscape structure. Local lore states that it also served as shelter for workers on the nearby railroad in the 19th century.
and the "Wheeler Farm" site.
Acton, Massachusetts
Acton is a suburban town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States about twenty-one miles west-northwest of Boston along Route 2 west of Concord and about ten miles southwest of Lowell. The population was 21,924 at the 2010 census...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. Its more common name is the "potato cave", which comes from the traditional assumption that it was once used as a root cellar. Research and excavation from 2006 supports this assertion, finding evidence of construction from the 18th or 19th century for the purpose of storing food. Some argue that it may originally have been a pre-colonial native American ceremonial stone landscape structure. Local lore states that it also served as shelter for workers on the nearby railroad in the 19th century.
"Trail Through Time"
The restored chamber is due to be part of Acton's a "Trail Through Time", which is being developed to document the settlement and use of North Acton's Nashoba Brook. Besides the stone chamber, other points on the trail will include the Pencil MillNashoba Brook Pencil Factory Site
The Nashoba Brook Pencil Factory Site contains the ruins of a 19th century dam-powered pencil factory. This factory was one of several in Acton and Concord, Massachusetts at the time that brought important developments to pencil manufacturing. All that remain today of the factory are the ruins of...
and the "Wheeler Farm" site.
External links
- Acton Historical Chamber Restoration Project at New England Antiquities Research Association
- Nashoba Brook Stone Chamber at Friends of Pine Hawk
- LSCOM Stone Chamber Restoration at Acton Conservation Lands