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Kent Committee Searching for Stone Chambers
Tom Maxson, center, explains KCAC survey to visitors on Mt. Nimham recently while Lou Tartaro, left, and Ed Iliano, right, take measurements of stone chamber. KCAC members Ed Iliano, left, Lou Tartaro, center, and Tom Maxson, right, measure interior width of Nimham Road stone chamber.
The mysterious eye-shaped stone structures are scattered throughout several states in the Northeast including New York, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Vermont. For reasons still unknown, however, the largest concentration of these chambers can be found in Putnam County. And George Baum, chairman of the Kent Conservation Advisory Committee, wants to know just how many there are in the Town of Kent.
Baum said his hope was to identify the location of each chamber for the sake of preserving them.
"They are one of the few relics remaining from the Colonial period. They are a link to the past and act as a reminder of the hard life of our ancestors," he said.
The origins and use of stone chambers still sparks debate among hikers, historians and homeowners alike. Were the structures actually monuments erected by ancient Celts and aligned with the sun? Or were they the more recent and very practical storage sheds known as root cellars and built by 18th- century farmers?
The debate rages on a very friendly level even among the three KCAC members who traipse through the Kent countryside and gather information on the structures. Tom Maxson, a senior product manager for a communications company, heads the trio of chamber surveyors that includes Ed Iliano, a teacher for BOCES in Yorktown and Lou Tartaro, a retired NYC teacher who served on both the Kent Town Board and the Putnam County Legislature.
Maxson explained the group's procedure for collecting information on each chamber.
"We take measurements for height, width and depth. We're also take humidity and temperature readings, inside and outside, to see what the difference is," he said.
A less humid interior, Maxson explained, would be an argument for food storage and therefore possibly indicate the likely use of the chamber as a root cellar. Maxson then records all the information, including the size of each overhead lintel stone and the height and width of each entrance on a spreadsheet.
Before they leave each chamber photographs are taken and notes are made concerning the general condition of the chamber. Baum said he wants to see that these structures are respected as the historical relics they are.
"Conserving these structures preserves the special character of our community," he said.
Tartaro takes GPS readings to pinpoint the exact location of each structure and records the orientation of the chamber opening. One stone chamber the group measured and recorded recently was of special interest to Tartaro.
"By its construction I feel it is probably pre-colonial and does, in fact, align with certain astronomical events," he said.
The orientation of this particular chamber's opening, which was partially hidden behind a cinderblock wall, coincided with a structure known locally as the Whangtown chamber.
"We know the Whangtown chamber is a winter solstice chamber," Tartaro said, "meaning that on the first day of winter the sun rises and beams directly on the back of the chamber."
When the trio began their journey to survey and record each chamber within the Town of Kent, there were 27 structures on their list. To date the number has grown to 36. Some chambers were discovered accidentally as the group drove to a known site. Others came to their attention as word of the survey began to spread. Maxson said he felt certain that once people know the KCAC wants to find every stone chamber within the town the number will grow even larger.
"I'm confident that by the end of this journey we will have over 50 on the list," he said.
Please help the KCAC in their search to survey every stone chamber in the Town of Kent. If you have a stone chamber on your property or know of one not listed on the KCAC web page, please e-mail Tom Maxson at: dogdad229@netzero.com.
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