Pratt Farm, Maine

Pratt Farm was a private park with numerous sculpted forms composed primarily of mounded earth and arranged rocks. Around 20 distinct pieces were constructed on the 17-acre property by James Pierce, an art historian and photographer, who created them during the summers between 1970 and 1982. He called the site a "garden of history," and the subjects referenced in the forms ranged from the prehistoric, e.g., tombs and burial mounds, to more recent historical representations, including a piece called Quebec Expedition, depicting Benedict Arnold's ship in an earthen outline (the ship sailed past the site on the Kennebec River in 1775, on its way to the siege of Quebec). A large Earthwoman sculpture was inspired by the famous Venus of Willendorf, a small Paleolithic carving of a woman, which is estimated to be over 22,000 years old. The Turf Maze was a triangular labyrinthine form measuring 120 feet on each side, made by cutting one-foot deep furrows in the earth. It was constructed between 1972 and 1974, and was based in part on a never realized topiary maze depicted in a 17th Century book. Although he still owned the land, Pierce moved from the area in 1982, leaving his earthworks to the vagaries of both nature and the conservatorial skills of the purchaser of the Pratt farmhouse. After Pierce's death in 2010, the new owners set about clear-cutting the surrounding forest, clearing and grading the land, and planting corn; thus consigning the "garden of history," to history itself.