I was in Boston two weeks ago to see my son play hockey and as usual with my time away from the rink I looked for different subject matter to photograph. Being mindful of our Covid times I wasn’t looking to photograph people in crowded areas, but I still wanted to document the world today.
The last couple years I usually stay in Burlington which is just West of Boston, near Bedford and Concord when I went back. I have spent a decent amount of time photographing that area and was looking for something new to photograph on this trip since I had already made it over to my favorite spot “Author’s Ridge” at Sleepy Hallow. I did a Google search for unique things to photograph in the area and discovered “Ponyhenge” in Lincoln, Massachusetts.
“Ponyhenge” is a collection of 30 to 50 rocking horses in a field, by the side of a somewhat rural road, in the small town of Lincoln. The area is a mix of small farms and large homes on acreage. Researching it, I found that the property owners claimed the first rocking horse appeared around 2010 and that random people have apparently added to the heard ever since. The horses get rearranged from time to time, often to reflect current events in the world. Since no one claims responsibility for Ponyhenge there is no artist statement about the assemblage and the landowner sees it as a ‘simple place of Joy’. I found Roadtripper.com wrote one of the best descriptions of Ponyhenge and numerous others have written about it too, even the Boston Globe. I encourage you to read their articles describing Poneyhenge and its history.
Most photos I saw online of Ponyhenge were from the Spring or Summer with long green grass growing up around the rocking horses. Spring images usually invoke thoughts of rebirth and hope which was in contrast of what I was expecting or really interested in. Since it was early March, snow was still on the ground and the grass was brown, which seemed more appropriate. This windchill also added to my experience.
As you can see in my photographs the location is a funny wedge-shaped piece of land between a road, a farm fence, and a private driveway. When I visited the ponies were in a layered circle formation with the focal point pony in the middle wearing a Covid mask, emblematic of the times. I spent a fair amount of time there studying the pairings of ponies and the arrangement, there was obviously an artistic mindset to the arrangement beyond simple eclectic folk art. There were also some obvious deep components with some of the individual ponies. A purple pony with “Evie” written on it had a memorial plaque for a child who died before her first birthday, she obviously never had a chance to ride her pony. Other ponies also indicated they were memorials, so this place had obviously become a place for some people to deal with grief. Other ponies looked like they had been loved and played with so much that they were just worn out and broken. I imagine some ponies came there because someone could not bring themselves to discard the beloved toy and wanted to bring them to a place where they can live on. Standing in the middle of Ponyhenge reminded me of the love I had for my rocking horse and the excitement of seeing it for the first time on a Christmas morning.
For me, Ponyhenge was another reminder of mortality and time, something I am tired of thinking about after a year of Covid life. I wasn’t expecting to be reminded of my own rocking horse which I parlayed to several other good childhood memories and for that I was thankful. But I still left with a focus on the fragility of youth and the reminder of mortality. It is incredible how a simple place could be so powerful, a good reminder that a good art experience doesn’t need to be a production or overly structured.
