Allen's Wall

(This is a column originally published in November, 1992. As far as I know, the wall is still there and still a mystery.)


It's not every day you go on an archeological expedition to the ruins of an old fort. It's even rarer if that fort is in your own backyard. But that's what happened one day this past summer on the Kingston Peninsula. Allen Gorham lead an expedition of sorts to the site of an old rock wall he's known about for years.

"When we were kids we came down here to play and look for Indian arrow heads and cannon balls and stuff." Allen says laughing, "Of course we didn't find any because we didn't even know what an arrow head looked like. But I've been told all my life that this wall is part of an old French fort."

The wall or fort or whatever it is stretches for about 200 feet through the woods at Gregory Point, just below Crystal Beach. It's about four feet high and three feet thick in most places and is made of field stones and boulders. It stands about a hundred feet from the waters edge, where the river bends and flows toward Westfield and Grand Bay. It's been here for a long time and yet few know of it's existence. But that could change.

Allen Gorham invited a special guest along on this expedition to the wall. He's Dr. Chris Turnbull, the Provincial Archeologist. Chris had heard about this rock structure before but never seen it. He was getting excited as he followed Allen along the beach and then through the woods toward the site. Dr. Turnbull has done this sort of thing before. He often gets asked by people to check out something on their property or an unusual structure they know about. In fact some of the most exciting archeological sites in the maritimes have been discovered this way.

After a careful examination of the wall, Chris Turnbull admitted he's never seen anything quite like this before. "The problem is that forts usually aren't just simply long walls like this, they're small enclosed areas." he said. "And French forts in particular are usually very small structures." He believes it's of European origin because native societies generally didn't build rock walls like this but he can't understand why it would be built here.

"Archeologists of course deal in probabilities and it certainly is a rock wall, it was put together by people for some reason but as to exactly when and for what reason we'd have to undertake some digging along here to uncover some artifacts." said Dr. Turnbull. "People have been living in a disposable mode for a long time and that disposal is the stuff we use to date things."

This expedition has been a great success for Allen Gorham. He's been assured by the expert that his mystery wall is indeed authentic and historic but to find out any more is going to take some digging both in the ground and in the archives. And Dr. Chris Turnbull promises this will happen at some point but he can't give Allen a date. That' OK though. The wall's been here for many years. It and Allen can wait a little longer.

For now this stone structure is being officially called "Allen"s Wall". "I'll go for that." Allen says with a hearty laugh. "I'll finally have something named after me."