Posted by Michael Maruzzella Thanks for reading my email,
on 11/6/2006, 3:51 pm, in reply to "Re: NY westchester area?"
67.189.156.181
Hi,
The caves you speak of aren't really caves but man-made root cellars with the doors long rotted away. It logical that rural farmers would build these structures to store root vegtables, and the orientation toward the sunrise was probably the only light source available. there are over 200 such sites in northern Westchester and Putnam Counties.
They are easily accessed traveling west on Route 301, just before the intersection of Farmers Mills Rd. Continue past the root cellar on your left and past the intersection of Farmers Mills you see another root cellar on your right.
The most interesting one of these structures in on Oscawanna Lake Rd. in Putnam Valley across fromt the elemntary school. It's a double root cellar on your right below the road level. Ther's also one traveling north on Route 22 between Croton Falls and Brewster, just before the restaurant on your right. In the winter it's clearly visible from the road near the large billboards.
Martin Breech from Mahopac attaches his belief that they are Celtic burial chambers. He believes that natural weathering on the stone is actually artistic symbols from centuries ago. Bad science and rural folklore have taken their toll on the real purpose for the chambers. The fact that they are located far away form existing farms and that their orientation is toward the east doesn't prove the burial chamber theory. The only people that inscribed on rocks are the native Indians, who in CT have left curious drawings to tell other members of the tribe where thay had gone to hunt.
Mike Maz
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