Rock Mound

Almost every monument we find or set up here has a rock mound around it. Originally these rock mounds were built for 2 reasons. First, they would hold the monument upright and in place. Many of the corners fall in areas where the bedrock is within inches of the surface. If they could not dig a hole and set the monument in the hole, there was no other choice than to build a mound around it.

The rock mound also serves as a means to re-establish the orignal corner. Since the original posts around here were wood, most have rotted away. If we find an old rock mound that we can use it to re-establish the corner position. It is not likely, but we still try.

We still have to build rock mounds today. Mostly it is to hold the monument in place. I enjoy building these. It is hard work, but when you are done you get to see the fruits of your labor.

This one was on a steep hill, so we had to find plenty of large stones to hold the monument from falling down the hill. Of course most of the rocks were downhill of the corner, so getting them back up hill was tiring.

This one was about 4 feet at the base.



This one was at the top of a hill and we could only recess it 2 inches in the ground. That is a 7 foot fence post, which we also had to build a rock mound around.

This one is probably 6 foot at the base.

This is the best one so far. We had to move a rock that took 3 pry bars (also known as small trees) to move. We moved the rock just enough to get it out of the way and then propped it up with smaller rocks.

My 3 year old nephew loves to play with rocks, maybe he will make a good surveyor one day.