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Unmentioned by the article is the fact that many (most?) New England stone walls are no longer in fields; they're in the middle of fairly dense forest.

Wandering those forests and coming across an expansive network of stone walls, it's difficult to conceive that you're surrounded by what was once field or pasture. The reforestation of New England as agriculture migrated to happier climes was dramatic!

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I was just about to write this exact post. You can come across an old stone wall anywhere no matter how deep into the forest you are. This is the New England I grew up in and have lived in my whole life, but other than old pictures from the early 1900's it is just hard to picture it not covered in trees.

Us New England mountain bikers appreciate all the effort that went in to both building the walls for us to ride over, and reforesting the land so there's trees to ride around, and the work to move it from private land to some public entity.

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