This is an updated repost of the out of date original by mr. bloodhound with new photos. Thank you mr. bloodhound for making a great Earthcache!
Stonewall Cemetery is clearly named for the distinctive stone wall but we need to dig deeper to answer some of the other questions the site raises.
- Why build such an intricately constructed wall?
- How did the cemetery get the name the "Presidents' Cemetery"?
- Where did the rocks for the cemetery come from?
The cemetery was first designated in 1817 and deeded to the president, Monroe at the time, and his sucessors forever in trust. The reason behind this is unclear, but one effect was the cemetery being a point of pride among the residents for many years, even prompting county officials to notify each subsequent president when they came into office for many years. It wasn't until 1838 that the cemetery'd distrinctive stone wall was begun to be constructed. Nathaniel Wilson III began construction of the wall, hauling stone all the way from Allen Knob, about a mile away. Unfortunately though he would not live to see the wall completed and his son, Gustin, finished it.
The cemetery wall itself is also a noteworthy specimen for a number of reasons.
- The wall is constructed without mortar. The wall stays together through the exact fitting on the stones alone.
- There are no normal corners in the wall. Standard masonry corners are at a meeting point of two stones, but if you look closely here you will see each corner is carved of a single stone block.
- The stone is an excellent example of blackhand sandstone.
Blackhand sandstone is named for a large black handprint settlers found on a cliff of the sandstone over near the Licking River. It is thought the hand was created to help direct American Indians to nearby Flint Ridge, the world's only deposite of rainbow flint. A poloshed peice of rainbow flint is shown below.
Blackhand sandstone was formed during the Carbinferous period, 300+ million years ago, when Ohio was much closer to the equator. At the time the majority of Ohio was covered in a sea fed from streams flowing down the Appalachian mountains. It is these streams out of the mountains that facilitated the formation of the stone, as the substrate that would get pressed into stone was the sand erroded in of the mountains. This was also not an insignificant amount of sand coming off the mountains as the blackhand deposits are up to 200ft thick in places and nearly pure quartz. A similar sea about 85 million years ago is also responsible for the formation of the Flint Rige rainbow flint.
To log this cache complete the below tasks:
- Look at some of the joints between the stones. How large is the biggest gap between them? Do you think all types of rock would stay in place so well without mortor? Is not, what about the sandstone keeps it in position?
- Look at the blocks around the gate. Are they all the same color and texture? If not why might the same type of sandstone from the same place be different?
- Post a photo of yourself or a personal item in front of the cemetery.